Encourager Church Spotlight:
First Baptist Church on Fifth
by Joy Gambill Missions Committee Chair, First Baptist on Fifth, Winston-Salem
Winston-Salem
O
n February 27, 2022, First Baptist Church on Fifth in WinstonSalem, signed an Encourager Church Covenant with Missy Ward Angalla, who serves as a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel in Kampala, Uganda. Missy and her husband Francis serve as the co-directors of Amani Sasa Ministries. Missy and the team at Amani Sasa minister among vulnerable and at risk urban refugees from more than six different countries. Their team seeks to love their refugee neighbors by offering them safety, wholeness and empowerment so that they can live into their God-given purpose. Their services include emergency food, medical and housing services, counseling and in depth trauma rehabilitation and empowerment programs. Last year, this ministry served more than 800 people, mostly women and children. While this was our church’s first plunge into a formal CBF Encourager Church agreement, it was not our first experience supporting CBF Field Personnel. For five years, our church was blessed to First Baptist on Fifth in Winston-Salem celebrates its support Lauren and David Bass, CBF field personnel, as they launched covenant as a new Encourager Church. their ministry in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Shortly after we began supporting the Basses, the CBF funding model changed to the Encourager Church model with all funds designated for programming. This new model opened the possibility for our church to explore supporting other ministries in other places around the world. In April 2021, the Missions Committee at First Baptist Church on Fifth met through Zoom with Ellen Sechrest from CBF Global to talk about entering into our first official Encourager Church agreement. Ellen asked several key questions, including what was important for our church. We said that we wanted CBF Field Personnel who aligned with our church priorities, including “cultivating the well-being of children” and “mitigating poverty in our community.” We also wanted the money to go to the Field Personnel who needed the money the most. After our informative conversation, Ellen sent links for us to read about Field Personnel who fit our profile, but she also said, “Missy Ward Angalla needs the money the most at this time.” Our committee took our time to prayerfully consider this decision, but when we gathered back together, Missy was at the top of the list for all of us. We at First on Fifth are so excited about the opportunity to be a small part of Missy’s ministry to refugees in Uganda. As we begin this relationship with Missy, our church is in the beginning stages of ministering to refugees in Missy Ward Angalla, CBF field personnel serving the Winston-Salem area by becoming a Good Neighbor Team through World in Uganda and Emily Hull McGee, pastor, share Relief. It is our hope that sometime in the future we will be able to send a team about this new covenant relationship. from our church to Uganda to see and experience how God is using Missy and Francis to minister to refugees in that area of the world. We pray that our church will be inspired by Amani Sasa Ministries and that we will become a church who seeks to love our refugee neighbors by offering them safety, wholeness and empowerment so that they can live into their God-given purpose. Summer 2022 | 13
