One of the highlights of the annual Grace Brethren gathering each summer is the welcoming of new churches into the Fellowship. At press time, three congregations have been approved by the membership commission and the fellowship council, and at least three others are “in process.”
A church named “Awaken,” which meets in the Pembroke Regal 8 Teater on Virginia Beach Boulevard in Virginia Beach, Va., is being led by church-planter Michael Pumphrey. The group is part of the Chesapeake Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches.
About 40 people now identify with Awaken church, which was planted Easter Sunday of 2010. The church’s ?rst baptism service was this past fall, and they plan to have threefold communion about four times a year.
The Pumphreys moved to Virginia Beach in August of 2008 with the vision of starting a new church to reach unreached people. They continue to see the potential of the Hampton Roads area as becoming a doorstep to the nations with the gospel. Because many area residents are military, and therefore transient, the church sees the opportunity to reach, disciple, and train people to take the gospel with them as they leave on mission.
“We are reaching an interesting demographic of mostly 20s and 30s that a year ago were not involved in a church,” Pumphrey says. “We are seeing people give their lives to Christ and learn what it means to serve and love Christ while loving the people around them.”
About the process of church-planting, Pumphrey says he has learned that “it takes a lot of people and a large support network in addition to what is on the ground. We could not still be planting this church and reaching this area with the gospel if it were not for each of these unique and valuable partnerships.” Pumphrey went through the Go2 Church Planting assessment and has partnered with a number of congregations, including the Richmond, Va. Grace Brethren Church and Pastor Dave Kennedy, among others. More information is available online at awakenvirginiabeach.com.
In Mount Sterling, Ohio, a village of about 1,900 people in Madison County, southwest of Columbus, Ohio, the Sterling Grace Brethren Church is being led by Martin A. (Mac) Cordell. In Cordell’s words, the Sterling church “began as a love and vision for Mt. Sterling through VisionOhio’s church planting effort.”
The group began meeting for home Bible studies, meeting on Sunday evenings, and eventually moved to the chapel of the Mt. Sterling Community Center. It was shepherded for a short time by Tony Webb, then-pastor of the parent church, Southwest Grace, until Cordell began attending and emerged as the group’s leader.
The Sterling church has had two baptisms thus far, with a third being planned. It also celebrates threefold communion several times a year.
The church is characterized by its activity in the community, particularly outreach events which include dinner and a movie for couples, movie nights in the park, grocery distribution, and marriage enrichment classes for the community.
In addition, the Sterling church has stepped into meeting local needs by supplying heating oil for a family of ?ve, rent for a disabled man and his family, a refrigerator for a single mother, tires for a family of four, and more. The church’s website is sterlinggracechurch.org.
A unique body of believers, Fuente de Vida Grace Bilingual Church, is being led in the Elkhart, Ind., area by Brian Baughman and his family.
Baughman says the church family has its roots in the 2000 census, which God used to open Baughman’s eyes to the growing population of Spanish speaking immigrants living in Elkhart. In 2001, he and his wife Tammy went to Argentina to learn Spanish and then returned to the Osceola, Ind., Grace Brethren Church to start developing a Spanish-speaking ministry.
Baughman says that some of their ?rst converts are now the ones helping to lead Fuente de Vida as it takes another step of development in becoming a self-sustaining church. Average attendance is now about 49, and Baughman says, “We praise the Lord for the love and mercy He has poured out on us and on these dear Hispanic families that He has brought to Northern Indiana.” Baughman may be contacted at bbaughman633@att.net.