Early this year, they learned about a church that was down to 15 members and about to close its doors. The church was “across the river” in the neighboring city of Bellevue, Nebraska. Though the two communities are very close geographically, they have distinct identities. Several of the Sojourn members already lived in Bellevue so it was a natural option. Discussions with the church were very positive and, in the end, the church closed its doors and the 15 remaining members joined Sojourn Church. Sojourn now rents the facility from the previous church’s denomination. 

Sojourn officially moved to the church building in March. COVID hit immediately afterward and they weren’t able to meet in-person right away. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it provided ample time to do some much needed renovations to the aging facility.

Compared to their previous facility at the mall, the church building is a much more inviting and welcome environment. They have a lot more space for worship, ministry training, and serving events. A new building also comes with additional responsibilities and concerns that can be time consuming and/or expensive. The mall facility was basically one big room that required very little attention. Pastor Parker was glad when the building renovation projects wrapped up and they were able to hold their first in-person services in the new facility in June. Pastor Parker said, “For ten years, all our energy has been available for ministry and discipleship. We’ve been really blessed to have this new facility but I’m ready to turn our focus back to discipleship.”

New Ministry

In addition to a new location, Sojourn is seeking to add a new ministry opportunity. Sojourn has had a specific emphasis on addiction recovery and homelessness ministries for many years. They host a Celebrate Recovery ministry and they minister to the needy through Open Door Mission, an emergency housing shelter in Omaha. Pastor Parker, a co-vocational pastor, also works at Open Door Mission as a Case Manager. His job is to meet with men who come in and help address their immediate needs such as clothing, food, housing, and healthcare, and start planning for more long-term help with housing, driving license, or employment.

When the leadership team was praying about where to meet, they had a vision to take on a new ministry emphasis through the move. They were excited about the new church building because it shares a parking lot with Bellevue University. Now that they’ve established weekend services, they are going to be meeting with the university administration this summer to hear what needs and opportunities there are with the college students.

Churches Helping Churches

One of the most encouraging aspects of Sojourn’s new facility is seeing churches helping churches. Crest Baptist Church in Creston gave a financial gift to Sojourn to help with the costs of the renovations. Chris McRae, BCI Pastor & Church Support regularly convenes the  BCI pastors in southwest Iowa to meet together for fellowship and to support each other’s ministries. Pastor Parker had shared with Chris about the opportunity with the new building and the need for funds for cleaning and repairs. After learning of the need from Chris, Crest Baptist’s Lead Pastor Chuck Spindler immediately thought of some funds that Crest had set aside several years ago for local missions. The rest of the Crest Baptist leadership team thought this would be a great use of these funds. Crest’s Associate Pastor Neal McRae said, “Our main goal at Crest Baptist is to reach our city, Creston, for Christ. But it also goes beyond that. We want to partner with other churches and spread our influence and resources to support their gospel ministry in their local communities.”

Thanks to the financial support from Crest, Sojourn was able to pay out of pocket to renovate and upgrade the bathrooms and the entryway. They also put a new coat of paint on everything and even added some fresh landscaping to the exterior completely transforming the feel to make it as welcoming as possible.  

Pastor Parker said, “We couldn’t have done this project without the help from Crest Baptist. Their contribution was critical to us getting this new facility in usable condition.” This is exactly the kind of partnership between churches and leadership in generosity that we want to celebrate and accelerate as a partnership of church leaders.

New Phase of Ministry

Sojourn Church is excited about the new ministry opportunities that God has placed in front of them. They are working hard to get back into a rhythm with weekend services in their new location. The next phase of ministry for Sojourn will be engaging a new community and starting a ministry to the college students in their backyard. Pastor Parker said, “We are brand new on this side of the river and we are still in the getting-to-know-you phase with our community and our 15 new people. We look forward to going to the next level in fellowship and discipleship.”