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Long-term Learning Communities
Every church is on a discipleship journey that reveals concrete ways to live out God’s mission. When churches collaborate, they can encourage and inspire each other in that process, as well as provide constructive assessment and suggestions. In our international mission partnerships we get to compare experiences across cultural and geographical boundaries. Sometimes that helps us better understand what is faith and what is a cultural habit. It is also a valuable resource in identifying ways to live out our faith in our own community, and an expression of our unity in Christ around the globe. Contact us if your church is interested in searching out its missional expression together with an international church partner.
Austria-Virginia Connection
In addition to an official mission partnership 2000-2005, there have been individual and church-to-church connections between the BGAV and the Baptist Union of Austria for decades. We have worked on many projects together and exchanged many short- and long-term volunteers. Currently the desire to engage in mission together has heated up so that five BGAV churches are actively collaborating with five churches in Austria, both in their respective church-to-church partnerships as well as in a large-group learning community. Utilizing video conferencing as well as in-person visits, these churches are exploring how to embody the mission of Jesus Christ in a post-Christian society. The goal is to learn from each other how to share life with the local community in creative ways that connect people with God’s love.
focus:refugees 2.0
First Baptist Church Ashland is very active in ministering with displaced persons in Central Virginia. Together with partner churches in their vicinity they work closely with ReEstablish Richmond to connect refugees and new immigrants to the resources they need to establish roots, build community, and become self-sufficient. After a fact-finding journey to Italy to learn from Baptist churches doing the same thing there, they established a partnership with a church in Sicily. This partnership also includes a non-profit in Italy called Mediterranean Hope, which assists recently arrived refugees on the island of Lampedusa, besides other ministries. Together they are taking focus:refugees to the next level of being a learning community.