First Baptist Church (FBC) is in the process of establishing a long-term covenant partnership with AMOS Health and Hope in their mission to “reduce health inequities in Nicaragua by empowering local leadership to prevent disease and save lives.” Please read on through the timeline to learn more about how this opportunity is shaping up for our congregation to humbly serve and learn from God’s beloved in Nicaragua.
July 28–August 6, 2023: Dava Cooper Travels to Nicaragua
Dava Cooper, a member of FBC’s Missions Team, traveled to Nicaragua to serve with AMOS’s Missions Experience Team. She represented FBC on this exploratory visit.
June 14, 2023: Preparing for an Exploratory Visit to Nicaragua
A month ago the Missions Team introduced the AMOS partnership to our church family at the quarterly business meeting. Three Sundays later, the congregation was invited to help the Team define this partnership and support Dava Cooper’s exploratory visit to AMOS in Nicaragua through a free will offering at lunch. Since that time, the Missions Team has taken your feedback and is developing a framework for this partnership—more exciting news to come!
As noted at both of those meetings, Dava Cooper will be headed to Nicaragua in July for an exploratory visit with AMOS. This trip will cost approximately $2500; this only covers her travel and lodging—no incidentals and none of her time. At the luncheon prior to the meeting three weeks ago, we raised $500. Therefore, we still need your help.
Within the next week we will be posting a “Prayer Map” to help defray Dava’s expenses and send her with written prayers and words of encouragement for her trip. A map of Nicaragua will be posted near the Welcome Table with envelopes and pins. Please consider taking one of those envelopes and writing a short prayer or words of encouragement to Dava. If you are able, we also would appreciate any financial donation be included in your envelope. Of course you can also give online via Breeze (select “Nicaragua Mission” in the drop-down menu) or send a check to the church (add “Nicaragua Mission” in the memo line). If you are financially unable to give, we would still ask you to add your words of encouragement in your envelope and pin it to the map! Let’s fill that map with prayers for safety for Dava and words of love for her to take to the families that AMOS assists in Nicaragua!
Thanks in advance for your love, support and prayers.
May 21, 2023: Vision Casting Meeting
April 30, 2023: Report to the Congregation at Quarterly Business Meeting
After significant discussion and discernment, the Missions Ministry made a recommendation to the Spiritual Leadership Team (SLT) regarding how the congregation should tithe the recent large gift from David Wise. (The tithe amount is approximately $21,000.) The Missions Ministry felt that to maximize the tithe’s impact it should be directed towards a single focus or organization, and be used as “seed money” to propel our congregation toward greater service.
Specifically, we recommended that FBC partner with AMOS Health and Hope in their mission to “reduce health inequities in Nicaragua by empowering local leadership to prevent disease and save lives.” Our vision is that the tithe would be a first step in a long-term covenant relationship with AMOS. To that end we recommended forming a standing “AMOS Apprenticeship Team” (a placeholder name for now) whose initial tasks would include:
- Determining the best approach to distributing the tithe amount,
- Exploring with AMOS how FBC can establish a covenant relationship with AMOS for the long-term,
- Working with the AMOS Delegations Team to plan the logistics of an FBC short term mission trip to Nicaragua in 2025 (and perhaps every 3 years thereafter), and
- Identifying, arranging, and participating in local and regional mission opportunities centered around healthcare. The SLT was supportive of the recommendation and provided valuable counsel back to the Ministry. We are currently in the process of identifying leadership to the “AMOS Apprenticeship Team” as well as planning an “interest meeting” in the near future.