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Columbia Church Works Beside "Least of These" in Rio Grande Valley

When you live in the United States, it is sometimes easy to forget that many people live in poverty and dire need. For Becky Hardesty, a member of Little Bonne Femme Baptist Church in Columbia, the church’s recent trip to the U.S.-Mexico border underscored that reality. "I was once again reminded how blessed I am to be an American and to have the opportunities and resources that I do," she relates. "It was good for my family to see that, especially my children, who may not have known that before."

In late March, sixteen members of the church traveled to the Rio Grande Valley to work with CBF’s Together for Hope rural poverty initiative. They focused on four projects:

• Hosting a morning sewing class at the Iglesia Bautista Manantial de Vida (Spring of Life Baptist Church) for mothers in the nearby colonias.

• Doing light construction on the church’s parsonage. 

• Helping a family that attends the church and lives in a nearby colonia to do repairs on their trailer’s leaking roof, broken windows & rotting entryway porch.

• Hosting a "block-party" on behalf of the church in order to spread the news of their upcoming revival services.

"God is working in powerful ways in the border colonias and is using His faithful servants there to reach others with the good news of a loving Savior that walks along side of us in the midst of the struggles of life and survival," says Brian Ford, pastor of Little Bonne Femme.  "It was a blessing to be a small part of that ministry and we look forward to partnering with our Brothers and Sisters in the Valley again."

Together for Hope is the Fellowship’s 20-year commitment to people in and around the nation’s poorest counties, all located in rural areas. CBF shares hope by listening to local leaders and others who work among the poor in these areas, building relationships of trust with them, learning about existing resources, and walking alongside them to find solutions. Together for Hope work in the lower Rio Grande Valley is a partnership between CBF and Buckner Baptist Benevolences.

After learning to be the presence of Christ on a mission trip, Ford hopes participants return home to see new ways to be Christ’s presence in their own communities. "Culturally and linguistically our boundaries were pushed, as was our understanding of poverty," notes Ford. "We learned about who, as Jesus says, ‘the least of these’ are in that part of the United States."

 

 

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Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Missouri
5 East Kansas Street     Liberty, Missouri 64068
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