Amid their own church building project, Revolution Church in Salina, Kansas, chose to support another congregation’s building project. When I asked Pastor Jeff Piepho what prompted Revolution to do such a project, he shared:
Pastor Jeff signs paperwork at the site of their new building.
We were doing a sermon series through 1 Corinthians. On October 1, the sermon was about sharing with the Saints in 1 Corinthians 16:1-4: “Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable for me to go also, they will accompany me.”
So, Paul urged the Church in Corinth to share with the poor Christian Jews in Jerusalem. The Corinthians and the Jews were very different. But, despite all their differences, the Corinthian Church (and Paul) recognized the unity of all Churches, and lived it out, even financially.
And we realized that no Christian is exempt from sharing with the Saints. Even though Revolution is “a poor church” – most of the people here are addicts or have spent time in jail – there are still others more in need than ourselves. And so many places have given to help us build our building. In fact, most dollars for our project came from people who don’t go to church here and aren’t even BIC. We realized that even if we don’t have a lot in common with someone other than Christ, if they are in need we can and should help.
The sermon talked about how God was our strong tower, not our building fund. So, we set out to give to someone in need.
Pastor Jeff looked through the potential projects on our Partnership Handbook website and saw that the Begompur congregation in India was attempting to finish their building project. This church in a small village had outgrown their facility and were in the process of building a larger meeting place.
Revolution still needed possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars for their own building project. But, Jeff said, “it seemed like a powerful proof that we trusted the Lord, and loved his people, more than we even cared about our own building project to say, ‘We will make sure we fund someone else’s project before our own.’”
The Beogmpur Church building approaches completion and will soon host church functions, thanks in part to Revolution’s contributions.
The congregation was fanatically enthusiastic. In only two weeks, Revolution surpassed their goal by $1,000, raising a total of $6,756 to complete the Begompur Church Building project. It would usually take them many weeks or months to raise that much. Pastor Jeff shared, “the idea that we could – and should – help another church, and thereby support the entire Kingdom of God rather than our own fiefdom, was powerful.”
How could your congregation partner with our global brothers and sisters? If you are moved by Revolution and Begompur’s story, take a look at the Partnership Handbook site and see what projects resonate with your congregation. Maybe you can reach beyond yourself to be a blessing for others.
This was originally published in the Missions Moments newsletter. Email missions@bicus.org to subscribe.
