The Ohio Independent Baptist, April 1964

Your State Missionary Agreement should be reached con·cerning ch·urch affiliation By Rev. Earl D. Umbaugh Although every new church is or– ganized a a elf-governing, independ– ent baptist ·church, some counsel ought to be provided for the nucleous of people who will form the charter membership of this new church. Some agreement ought to be reached .con– cerning future affiliations. Since this church will be sponsored by and up– ported by other Regular Bapti t Churches, it is only natural to a ume, that from the very beginning, thi new church will affiliate itself with the local, state and national associa,tions of Regular Baptist Churches. A clear cut rule of nature is that everything reproduces after its kind and as one pastor put it, "if it is not a sin to call a church a Baptist Church then it is not a sin to call it a Regular Baptist Church.' ' Help at this point may avoid confusion and heart– ache in the months to come. Also a point of basic honesty is established in that the people of the community know from the very beginning what kind of a church this is to be. Some help ought to be given in the securing of a meeting place for Sunday Services. All kinds of place have been u ed to successfully launch a new church. However, a survey of the possible meetin 1 g places ought to be made and the very best .place ecured. A realistic budget will need to be drawn up including building payments or rental fee, utilitie Sunday School Ii terature .and pastor's salary. Some review ought to be made of antici– pated income from local offering and a goal set for support to be raised from outside sources. The families forming this new church should be made fully aware of the co t involved in the tarting of the new church and should be encouraged to follow the Bible method of tithing. A new church ought not expeot help from other Christian through their c.hurche un– less they are doing their best to carry their own load. Much prayer and thought will be given to the calling of the fir t pa tor and the setting up of a temiporary organization. A good beginning will be the forerunner of good things to come. A mission minded church will progress By J ames R. Johnson A church that is mission minded i a church that will show definite pro– gress. It will be one blessed of God. It will not lack for its own financial needs! Recently, during a luncheon di - cussion with one of my newspaper col– leagues, a Lutheran, I spoke of the ongo situation and of the Bapti t Mid-Mission missionaries in that area. In the course of our talk, there wa n1ention of the hundreds of mis ion– aries in our approved missionary agencies who were suppor ted by our cJ1urches. ·My, you must have a high ratio of 'lnissionaries to the nun1ber of cl1urc}1es!" this ,nan ren1arkcd. Yes, our churches are 111i ss ion 111j11ded . But our desire is tl1at tl1ey lle more so, Cor we knovt1 tl1at "l1ere c}1urc}1es give faithfully( and sacr If ici– a11)' t \l\'ard 1l1i sio11s, their buildi11g progran1 progre ses; tl1eir co11grega– tion is n1ore interested i11 tlle L .. ord's \\'Ork ; it i a churcl1 tl1at i reaping ul in its 0\\ 1 11 c 111111u11it}'· t long ago ur Jl ace Bapti l THf: OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST Church of Cedarville took a pecial offering for the Bapti t Mid-Mi ion "Congo Emergency Fund" to help defray the tremendous e:xpen e of bringing back mis ionarie from the ongo. This offering amounted to muoh more than we expected a a church but rthe urpri ing fact wa that the general offering the fo'l– lowing week were above norn1al. Thi no doubt wa true in other churche in our fellow hip. God provide abundantl y! Thank God, our churche are moti– vated 1n the pirit of faith, sacrifice and un elfi hne \ toward n1is~1on . Report co111ing into n1y o1 fice attc t to this . he1 e n1ay be ~on1c. however, \\ ho are holding back on 1111s 1on'i I1 your cht1rch i\ finLling d1ffict1lt\ i11 any of } OL11 f inanc1,1l progra111~, tlo11't th Ink al)OL1t ctl l ti11g d \\ n on 111is– sions, jL1st take a step of 1 aith a11cl atl<J ''jL1st one 111ore." 10<.I l1as l)fO– n1iscd to '"st1p1,l) 1 all ) 1 0ttr 11ec l a .._ cortli,1g to His ricl1es i11 t1ri~t J t!Slls." l1ilc " ' are 011 tl1is ~rt111c sttl>jcct of 111 ission s, one of tl1c 111u" t c>11 t- tanding books, in my opinion, came to my desk through the mails re– cently, "The Missionary Emphasis of the GARBC," by Wm. J. Hopewell, Jr. The author is Associate Professor of Missions at Baptist Bible Seminary Johnson City, N. Y. Printed by Regu– lar Baptist Press, Chicago, <the 153 ,page cloth bound volume sell for $2.75. This i one book that should be in every pastor's study, church library, or home, because it gives a good background of the mission program in the GARBC tfrom its birth ,to the presen 1 t. Tihe book tells about the five approved agencies of missions and tells in a concise manner about the work in the vartiou field . Thi pub– lication will, as the du t jacket ays, '· timulate and maintain the ble ed missionary emphasis which ha char– acterized this Associa,tion.' The new churches being tarted in Ohio under the "Program of Pro– pagation" are immediately showing a desire to support mission . Some al– ready in the early stages of e tabli h– ment are ,placing mis ionarie on their budget. What a solid foundation to build upon! We are thankful then that we have pastor who are dedicated to the cau e of mi ion and church member who give acrificially that oul might be won to Chri t both at home and abroad. No other plan will ucceed o well. Returning to Evangelistic work Evangeli t Fred Ritchard on ha re igned a pa tor of the alvary B~pti t hurch, in appanee, Ind . after giving four year of ervice to thi new work which wa tarted and organized under hi mini try a a GARBC church. God ble ing ha e been n1any, and he now feel the call to return to the field of ft1ll tin1e evangeli n1, to which he and ht .. family have pent 11 year "' in ft1ll ,tin1e ervice. The} are Bapti t by tlcep convictionst and 1n ftill f cll<.)\V\htp with our G RBC' tand. The't ser\'C a ~ a HTea111'', t1nd tr,1, cl ,,,1th a 111odern n1obilc hon1c, ,tnd c,1r r a 11L1r11ber of 111t1\1cal 1n5trt1111ent · ,, 1tl1 the111 1nclt1 ti11g t1 Han1111ond 01 ga11. I heir et \ 1ce, are C l1rt,t cc111ert.:ll a11d in the bt:')t t intere~r f01 tl1 locdl ll1t11 ch. l "hcir 111111tstr) 1 is t1n1<.1t1e 111 111t1 ·1c, nrt, a11 l pre,t l1i11g. ll is t111clcrstantlablc, 1111 i crt1 fL th 13ible. rf 'he ' ar 11 \V t,(>Oki11g Ill t!ti11gs for l l 64. I f i11c r ~tt!d, pl a , 'rit for rvfert:11 e of lat t " h Fr I Rit l1ard 011 l~\'flllgeli .. ti .. e 111'', R.R. ' <1 . -, tfJI)a11 , 111 I . APRIL, 1964 PAGE 7