Hello Friends and Family in Christ,
I believe that it's easier to pray for someone when you have had a connection with them in life and especially in ministry. But if you are anything like me, you still feel disconnected from others when they are outside of your own personal ministry. In fact, find that when pray for others in their ministry, I tend to picture their ministry either much like my own with many of the same situations and scenarios or else I piece together what think their ministry looks like from the bits of information that I have been given about their ministry.
am writing to you because we have that connection in life and in ministry. want to paint a broader picture of what my ministry is like to give you a better understanding of how you can pray and help a fellow brother in Christ and the Christian family that He serves. For my Family in Christ out east, yes, I serve in a church ministry in California and yes, pretty much
everything that you have heard about California is true. Culturally, Northern California and Southern
California are separate, almost like they are two different states and yet both of them are inside of
a giant bubble. There is a sense of entitlement here. There are many that believe that whatever is
happening in other states or across the globe should not apply to them here in California.
Part of this philosophy stems from our heavy democratic government that feeds us opinionated mis-information into our every day lives. Part of this philosophy is built from the educational system that has been engraining the minds of the people that they deserve whatever they want. And part of this philosophy is from those who consider themselves elitists because of the wealth that they have built from the technological advances in Silicon Valley.
This tends to make the people less trusting and more cold compared to the neighborly connection that we have found in the eastern and southern states. For example, our next door neighbor finally felt comfortable enough with us to give us their first names- after two years of trying to make contact. In our area, you also tend to get odd stares if you greet strangers with a hello, and if two people are walking side by side down the sidewalk, it is common that they refuse to move out of the way, forcing you off instead.
Spiritually, the people here are "free." They like the idea of being separate from most "religious" boundaries and yet they still feel like they are open for any kind of spirituality that makes them feel good in the moment. In this area, 40% identify as non-religious and another 45% identify with a false religion. It's worse in the wealthier areas. There is just no need of a real relationship with God. Spiritually, it's a very dark place.
Unfortunately, that's exactly where we are located, in one of the wealthier areas. We are nestled between $1.5 million dollar homes on a street just outside the downtown area of Campbell, a small city that neighbors the central hub for the tech industry (often referred to as "the Bay area" or "Silicon Valley"). Once upon a time, we were located in the perfect spot: a middle class, rural area that would see many of the homeowners attending. Today, we are part of the wealthier district. Speaking of the cost factor, everything is more expensive in California. The $1.5 million dollar
homes that I have described would go for about $150,000-$250,000 in most eastern/southern
states. You can expect to pay about $2,000 a month for a one bedroom apartment in this area.
Most people are not able to save very much money because all of it goes into living expenses.
Food costs are almost double and gas, services, and property taxes are enormously high.
Outreach has proven to be more difficult in this area. The classic door-knocking does not work here, as most people do not open their doors to you and they are not open for discussions. Fliers in the mail, or tracts in the door are considered junk mail, and we have seen no fruit from this practice. Digital invitations through social media, even advertisements are not that effective. The most effective way to reach people for Christ in this area is through relational evangelism. Building relationships with people and introducing them to Christ by mentoring God's love to them has made the biggest impact.
Are we the only ministry in the Bay area? No. The city of Campbell is about 5.6 square miles and in that area there are approximately 40,000 people and about 20 churches for these people.
However, after researching these other ministries, we are the only conservative, fundamental, Bible
teaching ministry in the city.
The Bay Area stretches from San Francisco in the north down to San Jose in the south. There are three more ministries that are like ours in this area, two in San Jose (population: 1 million), and one in San Francisco (population: 875,000). Aside from these three and Campbell Baptist Church, there are no other ministries, to my knowledge, that teach a biblical understanding of being separate from the world, and that teach a New Testament philosophy of Discipleship.
Now that I have painted a picture for what the area is like, let me give you a picture of what our church ministry is like. We are essentially a church plant, or a re-plant as some would say. We have grown from 11 to about 20 in the last three years. The majority of people that come through our ministry are first generation Christians and most of them have had very poor training in their spiritual lives. We have spent the last three years rebuilding the foundations of this core group of people. When God first called me to this ministry to be pastor, God laid on my heart an acronym that has
continued to be a theme for Campbell Baptist Church: DEEP (Discipleship, Encouragement,
Evangelism, Prayer). My desire for this ministry has been to disciple our core group of people and
encourage them in the faith, to evangelize this lost area of people who so desperately need a
Savior, and to really bathe everything in prayer, personally and corporately.
We are now a disciple-making ministry and are building on our evangelism outreach. We follow the call of Matthew 28:19-20 to make disciples and to teach Christ to all who pass through our ministry. Within the first few weeks of someone visiting the church, they would be invited to participate in a one-on-one discipleship with a church leader. After that, they are continually mentored and also encouraged to find someone to disciple on their own. We also have an emphasis on scripture memorization. Very few people here know or are familiar with basic verses in the Bible, even John 3:16. The average Christian in California has a weak or shaky foundation and cannot even explain to someone how to be saved. We wrote a scripture memorization program that complements our discipleship discipled are actively participating. series, and about 90% percent of those being
Our discipleship series is designed to be able to share with anyone, regardless if they are in our church or have moved on to somewhere else. We have many that come and enjoy our ministry but are forced to move out of the area due to the high cost of living. We also have quite a few visitors that come through for up to three months at a time on a short term tech job and then go back home. We minister to these individuals for as long as we can, but many times the relationship ends abruptly once they have moved back home or on to another site.
don't know if this church will ever be the size of what we would call a "big church." But do know that this church makes an impact in the lives of those in this area. Because of the impact of Campbell Baptist Church, we are seeing lights shine ( Matthew 5:14) in the dark tech world. We are seeing people learning to stand for the truth where no one else dares to stand (1 Corinthians 16:13-14). And we are seeing a new love grow for the Lord and for His Word through the evidence of the lives of those who we minister to (1 Timothy 4:15). We may never be a big church, but as long as God continues to use our ministry, we will be a faithful one.
Please consider partnering with us in prayer as we seek to build God's church, His way.
Areas where we need prayer:
Spintual Warfare. This is a problem that every Christian and every ministry has to face. Here in our area, it is very prominent. In some ways, we feel alone as we have no other ministries that we connect with, our local government resources are continually discouraging (they have been forced by the supreme court to allow us to meet though they regularly suggest/push that we do not), and
the spiritual darkness of the people.
Finances. Church plants in California can be more difficult than in other states simply because of the cost to meet somewhere. Thankfully, we do not have that same burden because we have a facility that was paid off years ago. Unfortunately, we have a different set of problems. Our church was built in the 1940's and over the years as the church grew smaller, there was less effort to take care of the building. Instead of needing the finances to rent a facility, we need the finances to fix our facility. For the last three years, we have been making as many cost effective updates as we can, including new interior painting, adding insulation, plumbing repairs, new lighting, new drywall. flooring updates, landscaping updates, and more. This last month, several of our older fixtures started to break down all at once. Our water pipes burst in one area causing damage to several rooms. This meant that we needed to replace all of the piping on our property, a $16,000 project that we do not have room for in our small budget. Our heating system also "gave up the ghost" but thankfully we are in the summer months and won't need a replacement until the fall. We have several other areas of our facility that are breaking down and need care and we do not have the finances to take care of these things. But we know that this building belongs to God and He has already blessed us with many improvements. There is still so much more that needs to be done.
Wisdom. Proverbs 15:22 advises us that in the multitude of counselors our plans are established. We are few and our leadership is even fewer. We need prayer for wisdom as we consider what God wants us to do with His ministry.
Leadership, Commitment to a church is low here in California. People will often attend weekly, even for years, but will not want to make the commitment to becoming a member. Even then, there are more women who will attend over men, leaving vacancies for leadership positions that we cannot fill. We have been praying for spiritually strong families that will come and join to help us in our ministry. Until God provides them, we will do our best to disciple those that God gives us and build these families that we have been praying for.
Prayer Partnership. We need Christians and ministries that are willing to partner with us in prayer. As this letter expresses, we need continual help through prayer. We are a small independent Baptist church that would greatly benefit from faithful brothers and sisters in the Lord that can help us through prayer.
If you would like to see what is going on in our ministry, and the different updates and how God is providing for our ministry, please check out our website at: www.campbellbc.org
I would also love to hear from you as it is always encouraging to hear from friends and family. Unfortunately, I don't have much time to spend on social media, so the best way to update me or keep in contact with me is through email or texting. Please feel free to reach out and I will do my best to respond as soon as I can. I am thankful for you and the impact that you have had on my life. I am thankful that we are family in Christ and that we have the privilege to pray for and bear one another's burdens. God is always good.
Partnering in Christ,
Pastor Geoff Stiekes
Campbell Baptist Church
151 Sunnyside Avenue
Campbell, CA 95008
www.campbellbc.org
campbellbaptistfamily@gmail.com
(408) 378-2658
Comments
Post a Comment