Missions

NORTHSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH

MISSIONS COMMITTEE COVENANT

             We covenant to encourage the congregation of Northside Baptist Church to be missionaries on Christ's behalf by being open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in both usual and unusual ways.  We will assist church members to be free to work where they can use their gifts most effectively and where they can obey their sense of calling to the work of God.

             To facilitate this, we will:

 Pray regularly for one another, members of the congregation, and those outside our church.

  1.  Help keep the church focused on our missions that serve needs locally and globally.
  2. Serve as a resource and encourager, assisting each member to:
    • Discover and affirm the gift(s) God has given them
    • Use each gift in God's service
    • Evoke, affirm, and celebrate these gifts
  3. Assist members to publicize what they are doing to serve God in the community and around the world.
  4. Give systematically and sacrificially of our resources to support our church's ministries.

 The missions committee meets monthly.  The committee is responsible for setting the Advent Missions Offering goal and determining how the money will be spent.  The committee also coordinates a mission trip to Macedonia each summer where the volunteers teach English in the community of Konjare.  The committee has led the church to be involved in a water project in Konjare to insure that each family in the community has drinkable water.  In addition, a library has been started to provide the people of Konjare with books to read.

At the local level, the committee oversees a contingency fund to assist local people with needs as they arise.  The committee has also led several weekend trips to the coast to assist with hurricane recovery efforts.

The desire of the committee is to lead as many members of Northside as possible to become involved in hands-on missions.

Any member of Northside who desires to serve on the committee may do so by volunteering to serve.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How to be a missionary:

You can have a part in continuing the mission work begun in a small village of Eku, Nigeria in 1945 to serve the medical and spiritual needs of the people who had requested that missionaries, especially medical missionaries, come to the area.  Eleanor Howell, a registered nurse, began the clinic that soon became a hospital, renown for its quality of help and soul-winning activity.  For over 60 years the hospital with the creation of a Nursing School, a Seminary, a Tuberculosis and Leper colony as well as multiple churches and preaching stations has served the area around Eku and other areas of Nigeria.

A redirection in the support of mission work by an American Mission Board removed the missionary and financial aid to the hospital in 2000.  With no financial support coming from any local or foreign board, these mission outreaches were left to develop their own support.  This was a time of desperate need.  The cry of the people in the marketplace is "please do not let the hospital die."

In February 2005, obeying an overwhelming urge to return and investigate what part she could play in the restoration of the quality of service and soul-winning activities that once made this "jewel of the delta," Mary Kay Posey, the daughter of Eleanor, along with her husband Fred, with a close friend traveled to Eku and set up a non-profit organization "Walking in Love Ministries of MKP, Inc" to facilitate support and organize teams to restore Eku and its surrounding activities.  Their purpose was to see the hospital restored to a soul-winning center for the glory of God.

This organization has facilitated eight mission trips since 2005.  These trips include evangelistic outreach for souls along with the desire to help the hospital continue its medical work.

If you would like to know more about this work, you can check the bulletin board, or go to www.walkinginloveministries.com

Prayer cards are available on the table in the education building and in the Narthex.  You can be a missionary by "praying, giving, and growing."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mission Committee Meeting Minutes