By Jennifer Colosimo

The story of First Baptist Church of Abilene starts more than 100 years ago. Founded in 1881, its long history of sending people out into the world to share God’s love, plant new churches and be God’s presence is still exercised today. They’ve put their name on the map as a haven for the people of Abilene with programs like an affordable daycare, counseling services and a space for men, women and families to shower, eat and fellowship.

That evolution began about 50 years ago, and it’s still growing exponentially today. In fact, its traction has been so impactful, that the church received the Mission Excellence Award at the General Assembly in June. CBF has said, “they’re actively responding to the needs of their community, breaking cycles of poverty through City Light Community Ministries, increasing access to daycare through God’s Little Ones (GLO) and offering a Ministry of Professional Counseling.”

But they’re doing even more. They recently launched a capital campaign called Give Hope to purchase an entire block adjacent to the church to provide the additional space they need to expand the ministries as one. What began under the strong leadership of Dr. Phil Christopher is being continued by the current pastor, Brandon Hudson. With about 600 active members at FBC Abilene on Sunday, they’ve got a strong, committed volunteer base that helps not only fund, but also physically arm each of these mission efforts, feeding into the heart of FBC Abilene, making its heartbeat stronger than ever.

While GLO will gain more space to serve more families and the Ministry Counseling Program will build out to offer the same, City Light will be able to both grow and evolve into something even bigger for the people it serves.

“City Light started about 22 years ago in response to needs brought to the church’s doorstep,” said John Moore, Missions Pastor at FBC Abilene and the Executive Director of City Light Ministries. “In the church trying to offer restoration, they sort of collectively said, ‘hey this is an important ministry.’ We’re providing people with a place to take a shower, eat a meal, get food or just have a place to get out of the sun or the cold.”

When Stephanie Stewart, Director of City Light Ministries, joined the team last year with a degree in social work and an MDiv from Truett, she was able to help shift the thinking to something more holistic.

“The social work core values align with Scripture about giving dignity and worth to every person that we serve,” said Stewart. “That’s one of our main values and what we try to do in how we feed them, let them shower or have coffee in the morning. They might not get that respect outside of here. This is a place where they are welcome.”

It’s about the importance of human relationships—making every interaction more than just transactional, but relational.

“It’s cool in my spot because I not only get to work with the people who receive assistance but also with our church volunteers who come over,” she added. “There are different levels of educating our volunteers about the people that we serve but also letting the people that we serve, serve us back. Whether that’s by picking up trash around the area or sharing their stories with us. It allows us to ask how we can come alongside them and help advocate to help them take their next step in life.”

That means they get to know the couple who just lost their baby to protective services because they didn’t have a house to live in. They helped connect that mom and dad to people who can help them, finding jobs for them and counseling services to help get them to a place where they can get their child back. And they got to be the ones to break the news when housing came through.

It also means helping the individual just released from prison to find employment, helping them get their social security card, birth certificate, ID and teaching them to navigate the process of reintegrating into society.

It’s a community, really. Day-to-day, they do lunch together, they connect people, they chat. FBC Abilene hosts church services on Sunday morning, shower facilities and mailboxes. In a week, they serve more than 1,500 meals, including both dine in and take out options.

As a result of this relationship-based ministry, folks who were sleeping out in front of the building have found housing, others have discovered a new direction for their life at their own desire to change. For some, that’s through the Culinary Academy, a program that trains people in food service and preps them for a job in that industry.

“I’m so proud of the commitment to life change that I see from the people we serve,” said Stewart. “We have two people employed by us who have gained self-confidence through our program. It’s so important that the neighbors we serve can see themselves represented in our staff. People that were in their shoes.”

“Food service, Culinary Academy and case management are three of the most important things that we do, but for me, I am most proud of how we’ve changed from client-type jargon to calling our people friends, neighbors and even family,” Moore added. “We put an emphasis on knowing names, and that’s made a real difference.”

This church saw a need for affordable daycare and created one. They saw a need for affordable counseling services, so they created a program to offer it. They had people in their community who needed a place to rest, eat and shower while they got their life back on track, so they created that too. Now, as they reach the tail-end of their Give Hope campaign, they’ve broken ground on a space that will allow them to feed more, serve more and love more people, because—very, simply—that’s what the community needs. That’s what God has called them to do.

“It’s been really neat to watch this unfold, to watch how the provision allowed us to link these ministries,” said Moore, also adding that by a secret-ballot vote, the church approved the Give Hope campaign by 95%. They hope to be in their new building this winter.

“Having the eyes to see the needs of those around us and the heart to respond in love and kindness because they are all our neighbors—that’s the message I hope others can get from our story,” Stewart said. “We can be neighbors by being the ones who show mercy. We all come from different backgrounds and the church should be the one to say you are all welcome in this space, you’re worthy of God’s love and of dignity and respect. We want to share the belief that they belong to us, and we belong to them.”

“Of course, this isn’t a ministry success story that happened in a week. It’s a result of decades of being willing to stand on the corner that God has placed them,” Moore said. Whatever that opportunity looked like—and looks like today—that’s the charge. It’s a different perspective of street-corner ministry, and FBC Abilene has answered in a way that can inspire more than just one community.