Partnership

Partnership

 

I've been reflecting this week on some of the ways our church has been partnering with other churches and organizations this year. Maybe that's on my mind because we are in the middle of our Mega Sports Camp that is being held at Northwood Baptist Church in Greer. It is a beautiful sight to see: people from Ridgeview and Northwood coming together and pulling off a great sports camp. No matter if our membership is at Ridgeview or Northwood, all of us claim our allegiance to Christ and citizenship in Heaven.

 

I thought about how our church will partner with Freedom Fellowship, Springwell, and Living Way Community Church this Sunday night. We have helped to provide six hundred book bags with school supplies for the community that will be given away at Century Park. I thought about how our church partnered with Taylors First Baptist and Habitat for Humanity to help build a house off Edwards Street in Taylors. I thought about the six Friday nights we were downtown Greer hosting the Kidszone for the Tunes on Trade Greer Idol. (I just received an email today thanking our church for our involvement in that event and asking us to come back next summer.) I thought about how our Good News Club partners with Mtn View Elementary and Child Evangelism Fellowship to provide an after school program for kids on Thursdays during the school year. I thought about how our church partnered with Crossroads Church in Staten Island, New York to host a sports camp and how we helped them paint several rooms of a school. I thought about how our church partners with thousands of Southern Baptist churches by pooling our money with them and giving to the Cooperative Program. We give to the Cooperative Program so people from our church like Tim and Anna Norton can go to places like Madagascar and stay for four years and share the love of Jesus. I thought about churches that have partnered together in praying, in giving financially, and providing housing for the Wilson family as they care for Josiah at the Medical University hospital. Finally, I thought about the three year partnership between Ridgeview, Taylors First Baptist, and the South Carolina Baptist Convention over five years ago to start a new church. That new church today is called Ridgeview. Thank God for that partnership!

 

Ultimately, we must partner with Jesus to see any good done in this world. Jesus said in John 15;5, "...apart from me you can do nothing." Secondly, we must understand that partnership among other churches is essential in reaching the world for Christ. Thirdly, we must understand that partnering with our brothers and sisters in Christ in our local church is essential not only for the health of the church but for the health of us as Christ-followers.

 

You can partner with Ridgeview Church each week by:

 

1) Having an attitude of a servant and find out how you can get involved. Please see the weekly Ridgeview email and your program on Sunday for numerous opportunities.

 

2) Giving financially- When you are faithful in your giving you enable your church to extend the reach of its arm of outreach through great bridge events like Mega Sports Camp we are involved in this week.

 

3) Prayer- You can pray weekly for your church and the various ministries it supports. Linda Smith is our God's Power prayer ministry director. You can sign up for her weekly prayer emails at dlmasmith@charter.net.

 

I enjoy being a partner with you in ministry. We're all on the same team serving the same Lord. If there are areas in your partnership that are weak whether you are involved at Ridgeview or a member of another church, would you pray and ask God to help you step up to the plate (sorry for the analogy, been at sports camp all week doing baseball). Life is too short and fragile to waste the partnership opportunities God gives each one of us.

 

 

In Christ,

 

 

Pastor Tommy