The Ohio Independent Baptist, May-June 1965

Your State Missionary A few rules will insure success A few imp] e ru]e will in ure the ucce s of tarting new churches in Ohio. The Program of Propagation i·., ]ocal church based. It is a branch church program . lit j one church tarting another .church or three or four chur-ches working together to tart another church. Frequently, the new church will 1be in an area where there are already a few families driving ·to one of the ponsoring churche , where ithese fam– ilie will be willing to help tar·t a new church to reach the community where they live. It is a branch church pro– gram in the sense that the initiative for the new church begins with the pastor or pastors and .chur-ch or churches wishing to e~pand their evangeli tic outreach through the tart– ing of another church just like their own. To have a successful program, these intial efforts cannot be relegated to a missionary agency or to a state worker . Thi s must be the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers who have a heart for unreached area near-by. Churches s tarted under the plan employed by the Program of Propa– gation are not mission churches for any length of time at all. They re– ceive advice and coun·3el from the sponsoring church or c hurche un til th e beginning of Sunday Service . At th1~ time a temporary organization is set up and the people becoming a part of thi ~ church run thejr-own affairs. They set up their own budget , n1akc final <l ech,1on a to the calling of a pastor, make arrangement for a ten1por ary meet1r1g place, draw tip thei r-own constitution , proceed with the purchase o f Jand and the putting t i p of their own church building. All of the fun~tions tl1al will a ffec t tl1e future r11 inistr}' of thi s c hurch arc left in l1 ands of tl1e lJody ot l)e lie,,er s who compose it ar1,I to the lcade1~~J1i p of th .. Holy Spir it wl10 " ' ill gltidc tl1en1 . It is for th is r caso11 tlia t po1 soring cl1urch\!S are encot1r– aged to t:: lld tl1ei r fund s to tl1e tr a urer o f tl1e 11ew cl1urc l1 wl10 ca ,1 ~l UJ> it·.) v.,n bu fget a ,1d estabJi-J1 THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST a nor111al chL1rch a nd pa tor rela,tion – <; h i p f ro111 the ve ry hegi nn i ng. In o far a po·"' ible, every ,church begin with a full-time pa tor . A church h a it be•"' 1 t chance for growth when it i new. Some have aid that a new church can grow four time a fa t a an older church . The efforit of a pastor who can give hir:- full time to the work i needed. Few men are capable of carr ying o n two fu ll– time job and ·the mini try i a full time job. If upplementary employ– ment i found the ,time spent in that employment i ·time taken away from the minis try of the church. If in– tere ted churche can underwri,te and s~pplement the income of a new church by including it on their mi - sionary budget for a number of mon– ths, year of hear•tache and truggle may be avoided. To have a continuing new chur,ch program and an expanding new church program, the churche of the Ohio AS'3ociation will need to a llocate a portion of their missionary budget , on a continuin,g ba is, to the tarting of a new church ome pl ace in Ohio. New churches do not come out of Rev. Earl D. Umbaugh thin air. T hey do no{ come out of enthu ias tic exurberance. They come out of dedi.ca ·ted work dedicated worker and dedicated money . U n·les our churches are willing to et a ide a centain amount of mi·3 ionary money or a percentage of their missionary budget to be put directly into the work of tarting fir t one church and ,then another, there will be a very 'limited new church program in Ohio. Serving in the Toledo area Clifford Boessel and faintly Rev. ' )if ford Boc\scl an,1 fa n1 il} have been called to the new \\- Or ~ on the \Ot1th ~iclc o f '"f o ledo. 01110. A·., of no \.\ , the nan1c t \ the Bethel Bap ti st "l1urch. H o \.\ cve1, there is a poss ib1l1ty tl1 al it 111ight c l1 ,11ge its 1 a r11 c ~111ce tl1c1 c is ,1 B~t l1el 1is– sionary Haptist ( hl1rc l1 in T o lcLll) '"l }1 e Rev. 1r . H()e se 1 a 11 cl l1 is w i f .. \Vere sa vcLI t l1e sa11c C\' 11ir1g 16 ) 1 uars ago l he\ have ft \ c chilLlrcn. t l1ree ho \ a r1d t\\'O gir l~. Ir. Boe\ cl attcnLleLI 1 d, c, en- i1 g "iChLll) l , the11 'c,l'"lr\ tl lc ( ' ol lt:ge \Vl1crc l1c grallt1ateLI 1r1 l 9)9 . He then dCCcptcLI a11 i11 \ 1 itati )11 ti i.1111 a ,1t1clctt"i ot i1~'<)~1le in Kt)llts, l c1ll l<.) ·., t c1 1 t tl cl1t1rcl1 1c1 tl1a t at en. \ l11lt• th~re fiv, ) t.:ars, tl1e\ sa\\' th~ ~l1t1r h cs tablisllClJ an<.J gr t)\\ 111g i11 th~ l ortl. MAY-JUNE 1965 PAGE 7