By Ben Bradley, BCI Communications & Outreach Director
2018 has been a great year for the churches of the Baptist Convention of Iowa. We wanted to take a moment and look back at just a few of the many encouraging things we have seen God do in and through our churches this year.
Giving Together
One of the best indicators for the health of our churches is strong giving through the Cooperative Program. This has always been a hallmark of the Southern Baptist Convention and continues to be one of the primary ways we partner together for the gospel. Over $400,000 was given to the CP by BCI churches over a 12-month period (Sept 2017-Sept 2018). This represents almost 50% increase over the same period the previous year. We are encouraged to see good progress made in the overall contributions made to the Cooperative Program by BCI churches.
In addition to strong CP giving was strong representation in the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering to support international missions through the IMB and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering to support ministry at home through the North American Mission Board. BCI churches gave over $275,000 to these offerings which also represents almost 50% increase from the previous year. Thank you for your generosity!
Church Planting
BCI churches continued the pattern for strong support for church planting in Iowa and in nearby states with 18 new churches that have been started over the past 5 years. There are regular meetings for church leaders from new church plants, future church plants, and sending churches. This continues to be one of the primary emphases of BCI and it is encouraging to see many new churches taking up the challenge to get involved in church planting by equipping new church planters and planning to become sending churches.
Men and Women
State-wide events for men and women have been trending up recently. The 2018 Men’s Conference was hosted by three different churches across the state. This was the first year that BCI has partnered with the ONE Women’s Conference which was held in September and drew thousands of women from across the state.
Support for Bi-Vocational Pastors
A new and exciting event this year in the area of Church Strengthening was the Bi-Vocational Pastors and Wives Retreat. Bi-vocational pastors have a lot of demands on them between family, work, and ministry. This retreat is designed to be an encouraging and restful time for the pastors and their wives and was very well received. The event was led by Chris McRae and Ed Gregory and their vision is to continue to expand and improve the event so that even more bi-vocational leaders can participate in 2019.
Supporting Iowa Ministries
In the same pattern as the Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong, the Iowa Missions Offering supports gospel-centered ministry in Iowa. One project that receives IMO funds is the Daniel Project, which supports church planters in Central Asia. There was a Daniel Project vision trip to expand support for the ministry in June. The trip is designed for 7 or 8 pastors or lay church leaders to see the Daniel Project personnel in action on the field and to experience ministry in a predominantly Muslim context. There are two more vision trips planned for May and June and are open to all pastors and church leaders at daniel-project.com.
Peer Learning Groups
One of the most exciting new initiatives in 2018 was the development of Peer Learning Groups. This is another great example of church leaders partnering together to increase gospel-centered ministry in our churches. The goal of these groups is to gather 5 to 7 pastors monthly for encouragement and growth. Together they share the burdens of ministry and encourage and challenge one another. There are also times to share what is working in their own church as well as get help for what needs to be worked on to maximize ministry impact.
Partnering Together in 2019
We are so grateful for what God is doing in Iowa but we are eager to see ministry expand even further and to reach even more Iowans for Christ. As we look toward 2019, we are grateful for the involvement of each BCI partner church and look forward to even greater partnership for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ!
