Samaria
MIDWEST BAPTIST ASSOCIATION
A gathering of Canadian National Baptist Convention Churches in the province of Alberta, Yukon Territory, and Northwest Territories. MBA partners together to share the message of Jesus, start churches, strengthen churches, and send volunteer teams. Our prayer for Alberta, Yukon, and Northwest Territories is to see a church planting movement that will result in every person, in every community, hearing the good news of Jesus Christ through a trust relationship. Our desire is to see healthy, reproducing, cooperating churches planted in every community, and actively affiliating with the Midwest Baptist Association and Canadian National Baptist Convention.
AGAPE MINISTRIES
What began in a neighborhood outside El Paso with a vision of beginning a social ministry that would serve as a way to reach people and in turn plant a church with a core vision of missions has become: Agape Baptist Church, reaching the vision we had in the beginning, Love of God Baptist Church, Bread of Life Baptist Church. While establishing the churches in the City of Juarez, we also began a work in the Sierra Tarahumara among the Raramuris with the same core vision of missions. We are working in four new communities among the Tarahumaras, El Rebaje, Arbolitos, La Laguna and Cochiguachi. God has granted a total of five full time workers among the Raramuris who we depend on. The most important of the works of social ministry we have fulfilled are the Feeding Halls of Love--four in the City of Juarez and a mobile kitchen to take food to the neighborhoods that most need it. Through this ministry began new works, a music school, medical teams, support for senior citizens, a program to help people with special problems and more. In the Tarahumara we have two feeding halls in Rocheachi and Sagoachi.
THE JOURNEY CHURCH
The Journey Church, formerly known as The Sanctuary Church Mississauga, is an exciting new church-planting hub in the mid-West region of the Greater Toronto Area. The Journey Church planting hub was born in late 2015 and already houses three churches. FBC Midland was the very first partner with The Sanctuary Church Mississauga, led by Brett and Kathryn Porter. Now Brett and Kathryn are serving with the North American Mission Board with Send Toronto and Generation Send. In 2015, Brett invited a new church planter apprentice to join their leadership team and launch a new church, The Journey Church. Brett helps provide leadership for the church-planting hub of The Journey. As The Journey Church planting hub is being built, we have seen God bring a new church plant that is reaching both Spanish and English speakers through a new planting couple from the Dominican Republic. The planting hub has also seen a new church plant join with them that is reaching the growing Muslim population with the love of Jesus Christ.
TORONTO CHURCH PLANTING
FBC Midland has partnered with Toronto Church Planting (TCP) since its inception back in 2011. TCP was born out of necessity for a movement of churches being started across the Greater Toronto Area. Over the past three years, we have seen God raise up leaders to start 30 new churches in a region in desperate need of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Toronto Church Planting is a church planting hub that provides a charitable, book-keeping, and administrative covering for new church plants while they reach new people with the love of Jesus, gather them into a new church family and develop leaders to take over this covering on their own. We are not only seeing God raise up these new churches, but we are seeing churches three and four years old starting new churches and multiplying. God has allowed us to help new churches in training and developing systems to make new disciples, raise them up in leadership pipelines, and send out church planters.
AT THE HANDS OF LUKE
We minister to underprivileged children and adults in the El Paso, TX/Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico border cities. Our main area of ministry is in Juarez, however, we also serve in El Paso. A Children’s Home provides housing for up to 80 children, ages 5 and older. ATHOL provides shelter, 3 warm meals, clothing, education and spiritual guidance, daily. A physician on site and a dentist who provide regular teeth cleanings and dental care for the children. Hands of Luke has three Nutritional Centers in the outskirts of Juarez where we provide one meal a day to the needy children. As part of the medical ministry, our medical clinic provides primary healthcare and medication to the patients who come seeking treatment.
Hands of Luke started a Bible Institute where we train church leaders and pastors w/ an avg. of 10 graduates per year. Additionally, there are 12 Mercy Homes where a homeless widow or single mother lives with her children.
STONEY NAKODA INDIAN RESERVE
John Hatch is a missionary/church planter on the Stoney Nakoda Indian Reserve at Morley, Alberta Canada. The Rez is 40 miles west of Calgary. There are about 5,000 people on the Reserve. In order to meet people and build relationships I volunteer at the Food Bank, day care, women’s shelter and tutor 4th grade math at the elementary school. The newest project is working with the Chief to build an Arts & Crafts workshop where people can come and use this facility to work on projects that can be sold in our store to provide income for the people. We will be making jewelry, pottery, leatherwork and anything else people are interested in.