BIRTHDAY FELLOWSHIP

Our Mission Statement: We strive to achieve the "Birthday Ministry Objectives" ; outlined by the church in 1982. Our main goal is to maintain close communication with each other; to encourage, to pray for, and to love one another; to develop and maintain friendships through fellowship; to support the church and the community; and to promote spiritual growth in our members.

In today's ever-growing church membership here at First Baptist, one of the most pressing problems in a church administration is how to interest members in more active participation in church activities.

A partial answer may be that in First Baptist many of the members simply do not know each other and therefore often miss the genuine feeling of warmth toward each other and toward First Baptist that is necessary for continued church growth.

To help bridge this gap and any others to Christian work, the congregation here at First Baptist has been divided into birthday fellowships, whose primary purposes would be to:

• To keep up with each member -- to the pastor this would be an invaluable aid in helping to make the minister/member relationship a more personal and rewarding one.
• Unite all members into a fellowship that will promote spiritual growth of each and strengthen their total commitment to the mission of the church.
• Provide all members with an opportunity to participate in the church program and help members to create friendships and build maximum interest in the church and its activities.
• To encourage members regarding Jesus' teachings about stewardship of money by making clear that First Baptist should depend on tithes and offerings rather than money-making schemes for church support -- the scriptural method of giving (Mal. 3).

It is not the purpose of the fellowships to raise funds or have programs, but to have a genuine interest and closeness of members in the groups as well as the total congregation.

Birthday fellowships, therefore, should seek to visit those in hospitals, rest homes, etc. and of course to maintain the close communication of each fellowship's members.

John 15:12
This is My Commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.