Assisting Churches in Multiplying Kingdom Servants

Why Missions Involvement?

Throughout scripture we see God moving to bring people into a loving relationship with him.  He sent judges and prophets to call the people to him.  When His servants had prepared the way, he came himself in the person of his Son Jesus Christ.  From Jesus we have received the Great Commission so that we might all know that missions is everyone’s responsibility.

Partnership missions allows everyone to become involved in spreading the gospel. What may be too great a task for one individual or a single small group becomes a very reachable goal when several join together. We are the Church, the body of Christ. By our very nature we are to work together to accomplish the tasks of the kingdom of God. We are to continue the work begun by Christ during His life and which will not be completed until He returns.

Why missions involvement? It is the God given task of every Christian. Each Christian has been gifted by the Holy Spirit to be of service to and through the body of Christ. It is a primary way in which we can say thank you to the One Who has purchased for us our own salvation.

Missions in North Carolina

Partnering with a Sister Church

Missions can and should begin at home. By participating in the work of the Sandhills Baptist Association, a church is already partnering with its sister churches. Beyond this a Sandhills church may choose to enter into a partnership with a sister Sandhills church to accomplish a particular mission task. This could be as extensive as giving birth to a new church, or it could be as local and short term as partnering to prayer walk a designated area or help with Vacation Bible School one summer.

Partnering with Raleigh Baptist Association

Urban mission work is not easy. To be involved, however, does not mean having to travel hundreds of miles to a huge megacity such as New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. The needs are as close as our own state capitol only a little more than an hour’s drive away. In the Raleigh Baptist Association there are more than 120 churches, including 21 language congregations. A variety of mission opportunities exist with which our churches can become involved, such as rescue mission work, social ministries, church renovation and maintenance work, and renovation on the Baptist Student Union facilities at NCSU.

Appalachian Regional Ministry

Ten Baptist state conventions have joined together to increase their ability to focus on the Appalachian Mountain region. North Carolina Baptists are major partners in this effort. Projects include Mission VBS, sports evangelism, medical missions, church construction and renovation, home renovation, prayer walking, leadership training, door-to-door canvassing, preparation for and leading in revivals, social ministries, and family support.

Maintenance/Renovation at our State Camps

North Carolina Baptists are truly blessed to have the beautiful locations they do for retreats, education, and leadership training. North Carolina Baptist Assembly is located on Oak Island near Southport. Caraway Conference Center, along with Camp Caraway for boys, is located just outside Asheboro in the Uwharrie Mountains. The girls get to claim Camp Mundo Vista, also located just west of Asheboro, not far from Caraway. Truett Assembly is located in Hayesville in the far western county of Clay, in the heart of the Appalachian mountains. Because of the tremendous use our camps and conference centers get each year, maintenance and renovation are ongoing needs. Volunteer help from the churches saves millions of dollars in costs — money that can be used in other mission work.

Disaster Relief/Recovery

Recent hurricanes have brought home to North Carolina Baptists the critical need for a group of trained individuals ready to step in and help when both natural and manmade disasters strike. In past years NC Baptists have responded to pleas for help after hurricanes, floods, tornadoes and terrorist attacks, both here in our state and throughout our country. Assistance is offered through meal preparation, mobile laundry and shower facilities, and childcare workers, as well as water purification, clean up mud outs, and reconstruction. Special training has allowed our people to work beside the Red Cross and the National Guard when others have been turned away. NC Baptist Men offers training on an annual basis to increase the number of prepared individuals who will be ready to respond when disaster strikes.

Missions in North America

Currently the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina  has missions partnership agreements with the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association, and with the states of Wyoming, Vermont and Hawaii. These areas need ongoing support in such diverse ways as inner city mission work, revivals, leadership training, church construction and renovation, Vacation Bible Schools, door-to-door evangelism, sports evangelism, Bible and literature distribution, prayer walking and street witnessing.

Missions Beyond our Borders

North Carolina Baptists have established partnerships with three nations on other continents. South of us, Honduras has been the focus of a great deal of recovery effort and evangelism since the disastrous floods from Hurricane Mitch in 1999. In the last four years, hundreds of homes have been rebuilt and scores of new churches planted. Wells have been dug to provide fresh water. Medical teams have given immense help in direct care, as well as training in sanitation and healthy living.

The nation of Malaysia and city state of Singapore are an advanced culture but predominantly Muslim. Evangelism is critical but must be handled in accordance with national law. Local Christian congregations are asking for support in leadership training, sports evangelism, and mission VBS/Backyard Bible Club settings.

Armenia, set between several hostile neighbors, is our newest overseas partnership. It has a small Christian minority surrounded by Muslims. It is a tiny country with a violent past and is extremely poor. Any and all kinds of help are being requested.

Cuban Baptists have recently asked North Carolina Baptists to come to their island nation to do church construction. This promises to be a very fruitful partnership.

Besides these official North Carolina Baptist Partnerships, individual churches of the Sandhills Baptist Association have members who have interests in the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Prague (Czech Republic), East Africa, Scotland, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Ukraine. Contact the Associational Resource Center for more information on these areas.