Reaching the Ends of the Earth
By Scotte Staab
Pastoral transitions are challenging for a local church, but in the Tennessee Valley one church is fulfilling their new vision through a partnership with SLM in the establishment of an Associate Discipleship School. Pastor Ben Graham is leading the Grace Baptist Church of Chattanooga, Tennessee with a new vision statement for the Church. The statement reads, ”Grace Baptist Church is a redeemed community. We gather, grow, and go in the power of the Holy Spirit to glorify God.” It is in the third point of the vision statement where SLM has intersected in partnership to assist in meeting this vision. The statement continues, “We go as Christ’s body, His hands and feet to carry out the Great Commission and living out the Great Commandments in our own backyard and around the world.” This “Go” element is where the partnership teams up.
The church agreed to partner with SLM in reaching the Walker State Prison as an initial outreach that would blossom and grow to other avenues in the community. The senior Sunday school class, Maranatha, formed a team that would be trained to disciple inmates through correspondence. Brian Thompson, of the SLM Madison Discipleship Training Branch and Regional Director of North America of SLM, devoted a day of training for these members to become disciple makers. They were instructed in the areas of grading lessons and discipling through their important comments and observations. This ministry is continuing to develop through a meeting with the chaplain of the prison where future discipleship can occur in the Spanish language.
As this ministry develops in the Spanish language, SLM has agreed to train and support the disciple makers of Grace’s Spanish Church. Deacon Miguel Perez is shepherding the congregation, “Gracia de Dios,” and will be forming a team to promote discipleship through the use and grading of the lessons. This will allow the congregation to be discipled as well as discipling others in the Tennessee Valley. But the partnership does not end there. Two other areas of ministry are being developed for this summer.
Partnerships with the children’s ministry and the Chinese church, “Chinese Christian Church of Chattanooga,” are currently in development as well. At this writing, a summer Vacation Bible School is being planned in partnership with an inner-city church, Faith United Baptist Church. The children will be invited to study the lessons through correspondence and Grace will grade the lessons and then train the team at Faith to groom a team of their own. The Chinese church is a brand-new relationship and will follow the vision of the Spanish ministry in launching their own partnership with the School of Discipleship at Grace.
As SLM seeks to partner with churches to create Associate Discipleship Schools, the shared vision is important to remember. SLM comes alongside the local church to assist in the discipling of unbelievers and new believers for the nurturing of the church. This can be accomplished in the penal system as well as through established local church ministries. Partnering to serve ethnic communities is also an advantage that SLM can offer. The School of Discipleship at Grace desires to lead to salvation the youth in the Spanish and Chinese churches and equip those who are growing in their faith to be leaders and reproduce. These avenues of church nurturing can be achieved through prayer.
Prayer is of the essence for this new A.D.S. Here is how you can pray for this new ministry. The Walker State Prison is in need of direct help in the areas of biblical life mentoring and substance abuse mentoring. Please pray for the Grace team to catch this vision as the lessons are being studied by the inmates. The chaplain is also asking for advanced Bible classes from SLM’s WWBI. A minimum of thirteen students are required to form a class. Pray that financial support can be raised to start this elective in the prison and that a teacher or educational media be secured to teach these men. As this ministry is an on-going ministry of The School of Discipleship at Grace, they are seeking to expand and nurture other ministries of the Grace family.
They covet prayers for the continued development of the Spanish, children’s and Chinese partnerships with SLM this summer. In June, the Spanish leadership at Gracia de Dios will be introducing the Bible lessons to the church and looking for volunteers to be graders and be involved in taking the lessons themselves. Miguel and his team will be trained in using the SLM materials and then grading any lessons that will come to the School by correspondence in Spanish. The VBS will also provide an opportunity for new students to be followed up after the week of activities. Pray for new volunteers to be added to the teams at Faith United and Grace. And pray for the new Chinese pastor at the Chinese Christian Church as he shepherds the flock in Chattanooga.
“Any church that is not seriously involved in helping fulfill the Great Commission has forfeited its biblical right to exist.” —OSWALD J. SMITH
Let’s all take on the challenge and “GO!”