NOEL – Relationships are important in evangelism and Joshua Manning, pastor of Community Baptist Church in Noel, believes relationships are important for churches.
“Our church has seen lots of mission groups,” Manning said, “But it is the relationships with the area churches that are important. Springhill in Springfield, Fellowship and FBC in Neosho, and FBC Anderson among others have all been great partners.”
“Our church was established in 1880,” Manning added. “Since then, the population has changed, we are a town of 2,000 with thirty nations of birth working at the local Tyson poultry factory. The school has 10-11 major languages.”
“With that change,” he continued, “our church has changed. We have six services in eight languages meeting in our building. They are independent churches, each with a pastor.”
“Springhill and other area churches have come enough times that they build relationships with the people and organize and implement the mission trip on their own,” Manning said.
Jared Proctor, lead pastor of Springhill, reported that fifty-five church members participated in the family mission trip to Noel. “We’ve taken several youth trips to Noel,” he said, “but this was the first one that we took so many families. Last year, was our first family trip with fifteen.”
“We divided into two teams,” he continued, “On Saturday, one team cleaned the church while the other team worked at the food pantry and prepared a meal. At noon, the meal was served. In the evening, we again used the two teams, one conducted a block party and the other held a sports camp.”
The teams had a blend of fun and practical. “We wanted to draw out families and this happened with the block party,” Proctor said, “and the church really needed a deep clean. On Sunday, congregations start meeting at 9:30 and go to about 6:30 in the evening. So, with that much use, it helped for our team to come in and give it a cleaning.”
The mission activities were held at a housing area with 100 percent Islanders. “The Islanders are made up of refugees from Chuuk, Marshall Islands and Pohnpei, which is past Hawaii a long way,” Manning said.
“The congregation that I lead,” Manning continued, “is made up of Americans, like me, and the Karen, (a people group) from Myanmar. I have four families speaking S’gaw in our service. Our biggest challenge is constantly battling the false teaching of Mormons and Buddhists.”
Proctor said the mission trip had a huge impact on his church members. “This was the first taste of missions for some of the children. They had never been in a multicultural neighborhood before.”
“Another family had three generations participate,” Proctor said. “The church responded well.”
The positive response is the reason Manning loves partnering with area churches. “Building relationships is always better,” he said. “Most of these churches check in monthly to see how things are going. They get to know the people and build relationships in the churches. So much better than a church that comes once and we never see them again. The most important question is, ‘Do you know Christ better at the end of it (the mission trip)?’”