What is the First Baptist Church of Shabbona, and how did it get onto our adoption trial radar?
What is the First Baptist Church of Shabbona, and how did it get onto our adoption trial radar?
Well, first off, First Baptist of Shabbona is a church that loves the Lord and wants to impact its community for Him. It’s a small church in a rural community of about 1,000 people. Age wise, the church makes Village look like a very young spring chicken. FBC has been in existence for over 150 years, and most of its facility consists of the original building that was constructed in 1852. That’s quite a long history! Many positive things are happening at FBC.
So why has a 150-year-old congregation asked us to adopt them? Because, when it comes right down to it, the members of the congregation fear that the church won’t exist a few years from now, unless they seek help and implement some major changes. They’re weary from trying to do ministry alone and want to partner with a church that can help them in their journey.
Interestingly, FBC contacted us very shortly after Grace Bible Church did – which had been almost immediately after an elder retreat at which we’d begun to ask God to show us how to impact more lives without just becoming a larger church.
So what’s the connection? Well, one big connection is that the guy who serves as the solo pastor at FBC has the last name Badal. Joel is Tim’s brother and he grew up at Village, just as Tim did – so he knows Village well. The FBC elder team considered several possible churches with which they might partner – including VBC. As God began closing some doors, it became increasingly clear that VBC was the best option – if we were willing to consider it.
How does FBC fit into our adoption trial? As we considered the requests from Grace and First Baptist, we began to sense that God was calling us to help our brothers and sisters who were struggling. At the same time, we didn’t want to get in over our heads. So we agreed to enter into a full-fledged trial only with Grace, committing ourselves to invest all the time and energy required to figure out and implement a working model. With FBC, we took a lighter approach, inviting them to join us in those aspects of the trial with Grace where the strategy seemed also to fit FBC’s situation and needs, but not yet entering into a fully formal relationship. We’ve simply been allowing FBC to piggyback onto some of the work we’re doing with Grace. If and when we decide to adopt Grace Bible Church officially into the VBC family, we’ll then begin to focus more attention on FBC, hammering out the details of a possible formal relationship with them, and then deciding whether or not to recommend to the congregation that FBC also be officially adopted into the VBC family.
Pray: Please continue to pray for wisdom and direction regarding these adoption relationships. We want to honor God and be obedient to the call He places before us. At the same time, we want to make certain that we’re clearly sensing that call and that we’re not pursuing things to which God is not calling us – no matter how good they may be.