A Family of Baptist Congregations in the Midlands of South Carolina
Our One Priority: Starting and Strengthening Churches to Serve as Vital and Vibrant Missional Communities.
Pandemic Responses Show the Diversity of Our Congregations
The Fourth Wave of the pandemic is here. When Wave One arrived in March 2020, the immediate responses of CMBA congregations were consistent. We stopped live worship and figured out how to do virtual church.
Our country is averaging more than 100,000 new cases of COVID-19 per day. From November 2020 through February 2021, the daily infections were this high and then they declined. Now they are up enough to declare a new wave of infections. Deaths are up again, particularly among younger people. Especially the unvaccinated.
The Fourth Wave has returned us to the number of new infections not seen for six months. It is the second-highest of the four waves. Many congregations have figured out various ways to address medical safety issues. Some congregations have decided to ignore the latest wave. Many leaders are encouraging – even urging – people to get vaccinated.
How will your congregation respond to the Fourth Wave? What have you learned about how to conduct worship, small groups, and various gatherings? You must decide again what to do.
Conversations with pastors, staff, and lay leaders indicate the responses are much more varied than 18 months ago. We beseech congregations to prayerfully consider their actions and follow faith and science, rather than politics and opinions.
Prayerwalk the University of South Carolina on Monday, August 16th
CMBA congregations are invited to prayerwalk the University of South Carolina on Monday, August 16th as part of a statewide emphasis of the SC Baptist Convention on praying for the 275,000 college students in South Carolina and their need for the Good News of Jesus.
Sign up today at scbcm.org to prayerwalk USC as part of the organized effort, and also to pray for the students at other colleges in our associational fellowship area. Students need the Lord! Let’s support the ministry of our BCM director – Jamie Rogers – as he leads the campus ministry efforts in the Midlands.
CMBA staff and mobilizers are engaged with each of these congregations as part of our focus on new congregational expressions. Lead and assisting congregations in our family are encouraged to pray for and support the ministry of these congregations.