When I finished seminary, I had no thoughts of church-planting – I never thought that existing churches would ever cease to exist. I soon realized, however, that churches do close, but that troubling thought remained on the “back burner” of my priority list.
Kelly brings the inaugural sermon at Harmony Baptist Mission, which recently reopened its doors after being closed for more than two years.Churches closing their doors began to trouble me more when my home church closed. In 1995, I reluctantly aided my aunt and three other members in closing up Carlisle Baptist Church. This was the place where I was baptized, felt the call to ministry, and was licensed and ordained. I vowed never to let it happen to any church with which I became affiliated.
Several years ago while I was visiting a local hospital, Clyde Furman asked me to visit his wife, Bobbie. The Furmans were the last remaining members of Harmony Baptist Church in Allendale County. Upon visiting Mrs. Furman, she conveyed to me a promise she had made to her mother that she would never allow Harmony Baptist Church to close. Sadly, Mrs. Furman soon died, and Harmony Baptist Church closed.
In the spring of 2011, Varnville First Baptist Church and three other Allendale-Hampton Association churches began the Intentional Church Multiplication Process. During the process, the ideology of church restarts was introduced. Andrea Blakeney, minister of children/youth at Varnville First Baptist, lived in the Harmony area and felt it was a good idea to study the possibility of reopening Harmony Church. Soon, Frank Hyder, director of missions, began to aid in the process.
After a meeting with Daryl Price and Joe Youngblood from the South Carolina Baptist Convention, Varnville First Baptist voted to investigate reopening Harmony Baptist Church. A committee was appointed, with Wade Freeman as chairman. Mr. Freeman began the process by meeting with Mr. Furman to arrange an agreement to use the existing facility.
The building and grounds were cleaned. Minor repairs were made, and offerings were collected to turn on the electricity and water. Blueprints were drawn to install restrooms and a handicapped-accessible ramp.
A target date was set for the first service: 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012. A visitation team began to visit prospects and hand out flyers with an invitation to a barbecue for the community on Saturday, Nov. 3, along with an invitation to the first worship service. As cooking, clean-up, and registration teams gathered on Saturday to begin preparation for the kickoff celebration with prayerful expectation, one could see God begin to move through the mission effort.
Around noon, Harmony community residents began to arrive for the barbecue. With the Varnville praise team providing music, an air of excitement and fellowship characterized the afternoon. As committees finished their projects, a sense of expectancy and cautious optimism filled the air. The next afternoon would reveal the success of this mission endeavor.
At 1:20 p.m. on Sunday, the committee was prepared for the first worship service at Harmony in more than two years. Instruments were tuned. Hymnals, offering plates, and bulletins were brought and placed in designated spots. Choir members carefully took their places as approximately 30 attendees from the surrounding area came to the first service.
Even though it is difficult to predict the future of Harmony Baptist Mission, it has been a blessing to be a part of such an exciting mission opportunity. It is the prayer of Varnville First Baptist that these events will serve as a model to enable other churches to help “rebirth” churches within their surrounding communities. A strength of South Carolina Baptists is our rich heritage of cooperating with each other to be stronger than we could be alone.
– Kelly is pastor of Varnville First Baptist Church.