HOLDEN – New Life Fellowship Church and Forward Community Church, both of Holden, had seemed to have practical reasons to merge into the new Covenant Church of Holden.
“Forward Community Church lost their pastor,” Mike Wakeman, pastor of Covenant Church, said, “and we had outgrown our church building.”
According to Wakeman, the churches officially formed the new church on Nov. 5, 2023. “It isn’t easy to merge two churches into one,” he said. “There is sometimes a tendency to look back at what has been done before.
“What we want to focus on for the future is building the Kingdom of God. So, in January, I issued a challenge to our congregation to intentionally focus on evangelism,” he continued. “Within three months, our 150-180 congregation grew to 250-275. God was moving and we were seeing people accepting Christ.”
The numerical challenge Wakeman outlined was 1-2% of the Holden population of 2,200. “At first I said 10% of the population,” he said, “but that was 220 which was more than our church congregation at the time, so I reduced it to 40. We think by our next baptism on July 21, we will have sixty people accepting Christ since the first of the year.”
“I told them that I didn’t want to be a church of regrets,” Wakeman continued. “I want them to be a church leading others to Christ. If they are at the gas pump and sense someone next to them is having a difficult day, don’t be afraid to say something.”
In addition to doing some evangelism training, Wakeman provided the congregation with business cards. On one side is the church info, but on the other side is the Roman Road plan of salvation. “I urge them to carry the cards, and if they have an opportunity to witness on the spot with the Scriptures, to take it,” he said. “But, if not, invite them to church and let the Lord work.”
John Brittain, Associational Mission Strategist (AMS) for the West Central Baptist Association, is excited about the growth in the church. “I love watching the development of this new congregation,” he said, “The pastor has a real heart for the people, and the merger was successful. The associate pastor of Forward joined Mike to become the associate pastor of Covenant Church.”
Brittain continued with his description of Wakeman. “He relies on the Holy Spirit and preaches the Bible well. He is well known in the community because he has served as Holden’s mayor, and he has served the police and fire department. He is a strong leader and a great thinker.”
“God has blessed us with a lot of people walking in the doors of our church,” Wakeman said. “We have been amazed to see Him working and moving. We started a new discipleship program last month.”
“Each new Christian is assigned a mentor for twelve months,” Wakeman added. “They can talk about Scripture, or they can talk about life. I have a great team of folks teaching this. Our congregation is excited about seeing people come to Christ more than concern for themselves. God has a hand in all of this, and it is to His glory.”