It was a blessing to be at Bible Baptist Church in Jackson Heights, Queens, NYC this week. This was a special meeting for us because the congregation has been supporting us for several months “sight unseen.” We had a great time getting to know the church members and participating in their first annual mission’s conference!
This was also a great meeting for us because it gave us the chance to interact with a new, self-supporting, New York City church plant. We got some ideas for our church plant in the Bronx, and we were encouraged to see what God can do in a great city and a short amount of time!
One of our goals for the Bronx church plant is to be self supporting in five years. Many have told us that this will be hard to do, and that it is a “lofty” but unrealistic goal. Bible Baptist Church is only four years old, and they are already into their own building and completely self supporting. They are also invested in world-wide missions through monthly supporting 27 missionaries around the world.
I want to take you for an “inside view” of this newer church so you can get a glimpse of church planting in New York City!
Pastor Taala came to New York City from the Philippines for better educational help for a special needs child. He did not do deputation or raise monthly support for church planting, but he stepped out on faith and trusted God to provide.
The church began meeting in a Jewish center, and while the rent was low, they could only use the space for a few hours each week. In June they were able to move into a better space. They are still renting, but they have the basement and first floor of this “house” in Jackson Heights, Queens. They can use the building 24/7 and pastor has an office downstairs.
Like most things in New York City, everything and every space serves a multipurpose in order to be useful. The nursery quickly converts to a classroom and the children sit on top of the low toy shelves instead of having small chairs. The basement is a classroom and kitchen. The auditorium was transformed into a dining hall for the missions banquet. The building doesn’t have heat, so they use multiple space heaters to keep the auditorium warm. It was a little chilly, but I didn’t hear any complaining!
There were several other things we loved about this church. In Children’s Church the kids were taught hymns instead of just children’s songs. The song leading and piano playing for the Children’s Church was done by teens. For a small church, they pulled together their talent and formed a choir. I also enjoyed that the Sunday School hour closed with all of the children’s classes coming to the platform to quote their memory verses to the adults. Even Nolan got enthusiastic and grabbed the microphone to quote his verse! Bible Baptist has sidewalk signs at each main intersection to direct people to the church location. And I loved their large, blank map of the world with pictures of their missionary families on it!
Elaine declined to go to the front, but the other three kids were enthusiastic!
Russel, Nolan, and Casy
Last week for outreach the people of Bible Baptist got together and swept the sidewalks of their block to be a good testimony to their neighbors all around. What a fabulous idea! Sometimes you just need to get creative, and practical, in order to build relationships for evangelism.
Thank you Bible Baptist Church for making us part of your missionary family, and for you prayers and support as we head to “Da Bronx!”
I love this simple missionary board!
First time we’ve visited a church and already had our picture up on the map! We’re in good company with our friends the Klaus family!
.JPG)
