In December 2017, Danielville Baptist Church (DBC) began a partnership with a Southern Baptist missionary family serving in the Middle East. 

This partnership is the first for DBC and for the Alabama-Crenshaw Baptist Association. The idea was sparked at the Alabama Women’s Missionary Union (WMU) Equip Leadership training in July 2017.

Members of the Alabama-Crenshaw WMU Executive Team and DBC’s WMU heard about the need for missionary partners.

“Scotty shared more information about Alabama missionaries with our group at the breakfast and extended an invitation for our congregation to come alongside a missionary family to encourage them and partner with them in the work God has called them to do, “ said DBC’s WMU Director Lanell Smith.

Scotty Goldman, the Director of the Office of Global Missions with the Alabama State Board of Missions, facilitates church partnerships with missionaries from Alabama. Seeing this amazing opportunity, the church and Goldman meeting about adopting a missionary family.

Smith added, “The partnership was formed in cooperation with the Alabama State Board of Missions and is the fruit of much prayer and many conversations with the Office of Global Missions.”

A special meeting with leaders of the church and the state board was held in November to discuss options for partnership. Receiving information about three separate missionaries, the church was asked to choose one family.

“We shared the demographic information with our congregation, prayed together for a couple of weeks and voted on December 10th to choose our missionary family,” Smith explained. On December 17th, the church hosted a party revealing the new missionary family. 

Smith said, “We are just getting to know this sweet family and are still in the process of learning how we may serve them as they work to bring the Gospel to the nations.”

These partnerships are designed to enable churches to make a personal connection with missionaries.

The missionary family lives in the Middle East providing discipleship and Christian education.

Smith said, “This is our first missionary partnership and we are their first church partner.  We hope to serve as a pilot in our Association to inspire other churches to form missionary partnerships.”

Representing the state board, Scotty Goldman will be speaking about church partnerships at the Crenshaw County Association’s quarterly meeting on April 16 at Union Baptist Church in Honoraville, Ala.  Men and women of all ages are welcome to attend.  The meal begins at 6:00pm service to follow.