12 Jan Lancaster UB Helps an Alabama Church Rebuild

On January 1, 2012, a group of central Ohio volunteers set out in church vans, trucks, and campers to Phil Campbell, Ala. There, they helped turn a former Dollar General store into the Phil Campbell Church of God.

The Phil Campbell Church lost its building in the F5 tornado that flattened the area on April 27, 2011. At least 12 people were killed in the town, which had a population of about 1100.

Pastor Greg Voight (right) and members from Lancaster UB (Lancaster, Ohio), along with 6 other Ohio churches and the Haylesville, Alabama, Church of God, worked long hours that week to make it possible for the Phil Campbell Church to hold Sunday services on January 8. The group arrived home exhausted but inspired to continue spreading God’s love to those in need.

Central Ohio churches sending volunteers were:

• Victory Hill Church of God
• Circleville First Church
• Nicholas Drive Church of God
• Oakthorpe Christian Church
• Lancaster United Brethren Church
• Living Word Church
• Lancaster Community Church

12 Jan Six Months of Transformation at the Rock

Teddy Fairchild (right), pastor, The Rock (Findlay, Ohio)

It has been a very exciting six months here at The Rock in Findlay, Ohio. As a church, we sat down and decided that we had some things to change if we wanted to remain open: we had to change our apperance and our focus. This new direction has been put in place over the past six months, and we looked forward to future ways we can serve our community with our new focus now in place.

The video above shows some of the transformation that has happened at The Rock.

10 Jan Christmas at Our Church: South Cumberland, Md.

As a result of a local congregation exceeding its goal for a special Christmas Eve offering, a Christian school of nearly 2000 students in Sierra Leone, West Africa, will be provided safe drinking water and sanitation for the first time in years.

Bethany House of the Lord is a congregation of 50 people in South Cumberland, Md. In an attempt to get the congregation into a less commercial and more spiritual frame-of-mind, the elders approved a “Big Christmas Challenge” for the Advent Season. The challenge was to intentionally spend less money on Christmas gifts and to give more gifts of time and relationship instead…in order to give a sacrificial offering on Christmas Eve to meet a real need for truly poor people.

The elders announced on the first Sunday of Advent that whatever was collected on Christmas Eve would be matched 3-to-1 out of the congregational savings account. They set a goal of a $5,000 offering with a maximum match of $15,000.

The project they selected to receive the offering was the “Centennial School Clean Water and Sanitation Project,” a project designed by Engineers Without Borders in 2009 and left undone while awaiting contributions towards the $20,000 cost.

Sierra Leone, the poorest nation on earth, suffered a brutal civil war from 1991 to 2002. During the war, rebels raided the village of Mattru Jong, nearly destroying the hospital and Christian school that have been owned and operated there by the United Brethren in Christ since the 1950s. The buildings were stripped of roofing, electrical wiring, plumbing, and all fixtures.

Since the civil war ended, the hospital and school have re-opened. School enrollment has increased since 2009 from 1500 to nearly 2000, but the students have no safe drinking water and no toilet facilities.

President of the “Centennial Old Students’ Association” (alumni) is Pastor Joe Abu, a United Brethren pastor serving the Mount Zion United African Church in Philadelphia, Pa. Pastor Joe grew up in a Muslim home and became a Christian while a student at Centennial. In August, he and his wife and another member of the Philadelphia congregation traveled to speak in Cumberland to the people of Bethany House of the Lord. He shared the needs of the school, and mentioned the water project then.

In November, Michael Allen Mudge (right), pastor of Bethany House of the Lord, remembered Joe’s passion for the needs in Sierra Leone, and decided to ask the elders to challenge the congregation. With an Advent theme of “Spend Less, Give More, Love All, Worship Fully,” the congregation was encouraged to reflect on the fact that the average American spends $1000 each year on Christmas gifts, while 60% of the world’s population lives on less than $2000 per year.

“Could you imagine our board of education combining Allegany and Fort Hill High Schools, together but not providing safe drinking water and functioning toilets for our children?” asked Pastor Mudge. “We are so blessed and so abundantly able to meet real needs. Allegheny County, Md., is the poorest county in the state, but still we are able to meet a need in the poorest country in the world. If our congregation of 50 people here is able to meet a dire need of 2000 students there, why shouldn’t we do it?”

On Christmas Eve, at the end of the traditional service of Scriptures and carols, and just before the darkened sanctuary was illuminated by candlelight, two young men passed the offering baskets. The offering collected came to $6,357, far exceeding the announced goal of $5,000 and winning the full match of $15,000 from the savings account.

A check for $21,357 has been sent to United Brethren Global Ministries in Huntington, Ind., to be administered for the water project. The Lehigh Valley (Pennsylvania) Chapter of Engineers Without Borders will schedule the work to be done in the spring of 2012. The work will involve drilling a well and installing plumbing and toilet facilities.

Donna Hollopeter (right), a staff member with United Brethren Global Ministries, visited Mattru in April 2011 and found that the Christian school has some students right now who were scarred for life as children. During the civil war, rebels terrorized villages by forming people, even infants, into lines, and hacking-off limbs–ears, hands, arms, legs. Many such mutilated children were left orphaned by the civil war, and United Brethren congregations have worked to find families to look after these children.

The most unusual part of Bethany’s Christmas Eve offering was not the size, but the fact that two baskets were passed through the congregation at all. It’s the first time–and perhaps only time–in the life of the seven-year-old congregation that money has ever been requested or a collection made. Each Sunday, a small basket is available in the rear of the sanctuary for tithes and offerings, but no mention is ever made about it.

In announcing the offering results on Christmas morning, Pastor Mudge quoted from 2 Corinthians: “Their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity….They gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability” (8:2-3).

“Our congregation is not wealthy but generous,” he said. “When I telephoned Pastor Joe Abu at 10:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve to give him a long-distance Christmas gift, he screamed with joy.” To those who were astonished by the results, he added a quote from the Nativity story, a line from the angel Gabriel to Mary: “For nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).

09 Jan Mill Crossing – Beyond a Building

The Mill Crossing UB Church in Cambridge, Ontario

Mill Crossing UB Church (Cambridge, Ontario) is one of three Ontario churches featured in an article by TheRecord.com titled, “Building a Church Bigger than a Building.” It’s about unconventional evangelical churches arising not in traditional church buildings, but in other locations–a hotel, a community center, and, in the case of Mill Crossing, a former warehouse. Here’s the part about Mill Crossing.

Neil and Liz Cudney

At Mill Crossing, reaching out to others in their Hespeler community is central to their mission.

Co-pastors Neil and Elizabeth Cudney (right) describe Mill Crossing in Cambridge as a journey where members try to be more like Christ, showing mercy, grace, and gentleness.

“How do we help the community around us experience that?” Neil Cudney asked.

He said Mill Crossing has connected with Popcorn House, serving Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and supporting the group’s breakfast club.

Mill Crossing started in Cambridge in 2005, meeting at the Best Western, and moved into its current home in a renovated warehouse on Queen Street next to Len’s Mill last April.

Mill Crossing stems from the United Brethren Church, the denomination of Orville and Wilbur Wright, who built the first airplane. Their father was Bishop Milton Wright. The denomination came to Canada in the 1800s.

“We are an old denomination but no one has heard of us,” Elizabeth Cudney said.

Mill Crossing’s mother church is Parkwood Gardens in Guelph. Mill Crossing has been financially self-sufficient for two years, relying on offerings and tithes from members to pay its costs.

About 80 people call the church home, many of them young families.

“We are the oldies in the group,” chuckles Elizabeth Cudney, 50.

She said a church community is important during times of economic uncertainty.

“We need each other especially in these crazy times,” she said. “I really don’t understand why people don’t flock to churches. We really need each other.”

“You can never realize true community until we are in community with God,” said Neil, who is the director of pastoral ministries at Christian Horizons.

Elizabeth said some members may have difficulty with organized churches.

“We are careful about earning trust. We want to be honest and real and not push money in their face,” she said.

The Cudneys, like most Christian evangelicals, believe that salvation is found only through Jesus.

“I believe that to be the truth. I live my life in accordance with that,” said Neil Cudney.

But for those who have another point of view, Neil says “it does not change my value placed on understanding you or working with you. It’s God that holds the door.”

Although these three groups may be attracting similar followers, they say there’s room for all of them.

Elizabeth Cudney said she’s thrilled other similar groups exist in the region. “We want to see God’s kingdom expand.”

06 Jan Christmas at Our Church: Fort Wayne, Ind.

Sam Ward (right), Pastor of Creative Worship and Drama, Emmanuel Community Church (Fort Wayne, Ind.)

It seems like we’re listening to more music than we ever have. We listen to music in our cars, on headphones, at the gas station, and even at the grocery store, but we make music less and less. We are singing together less and less. Think about it…50 to 60 years ago, it was a common occurrence for people to get together and sing on a Wednesday or Sunday night. But not anymore. Our music production values are getting better, but when do we join with a small group of believers to sing?

When I grew up, my Dad played guitar and led worship for our small church of 100 people or so. A close family friend would always call at Christmas and invite our whole family over. He would also always remind my Dad to bring his guitar. And then we would sing, eat, laugh, and tell stories for the whole night. That was it.

Thinking back to those times…what I found out is that there are not a whole lot of things that you really need to have a time of fellowship and worship. So we created times like this at Emmanuel Community Church this Christmas.

The ECC Worship Arts and Warmth Ministries joined forces and called it the ECC HOME TOUR. This was a time of us coming together to participate in something together. It wasn’t a time to come and be fed, but a time to sing, eat, laugh, tell stories, and celebrate that Jesus, God with us, was born in a barn. He wasn’t born in a palace or a temple or a synagogue or a church. He was born in a barn.

So we thought it appropriate that these happened in various homes, a log cabin and…even a barn. While all the events were similar, we had three different teams to pull off the 9 different HOME TOURS that took place on different nights and in different places.