Buncombe Road Baptist has effective children’s ministry
Posted by The Skyliner on April 1st, 2009Leasy Sandal
Staff Writer
Buncombe Road Baptist Church located on Courtney Circle in Greenville, S.C., is known for its loving atmosphere and accepting church community.
BRBC is part of the Southern Baptist Convention. Their motto, “Reaching out in love by growing deep in Christ,” captures the core beliefs of the church.
“We exist to glorify God as a forest (body) of believers spreading the Gospel and growing together in Christ,” Pastor Eddie Coakley said.
Bethany Tart, junior, has been an active member of BRBC since this past September. She began working with Amber Mathis, the church’s children’s director, and has continued attending the church and volunteering in the children’s department since.
“I love the church because it is God focused. When the Bible is preached it is done so without apology,” Tart said. “The pastor does a good job at being personal.”
BRBC is unique in their dedicated approach to bring families to church. If a person interested in attending BRBC is without transportation, the church will gladly send their bus service to assist.
Prayer ministry is another active involvement families can have with the church. The Web site www.mybrbc.org allows members to submit prayer requests and view others’ requests. The church also includes music, missions, youth and women’s ministries.
“There is a place for all sorts of strengths here. Those who have a heart for the youth have plenty of opportunities to work with them. The children’s ministry is always in need of more adults to love the children,” Tart said. “Those who love to worship God through song can be a part of the choir and those who would rather ministry [sic] through prayer have a place as well.”
Amber Mathis, children’s minister, joined BRBC in 2006.
BRBC currently has two after-school programs on Monday and Tuesday afternoons at Duncan Chapel Elementary and Stone Academy in Greenville.
“We use Child Evangelism Fellowship curriculum and host Good News Clubs in the two schools. We have had several college students rotate helping in the clubs in the past three years since the clubs began,” Mathis said. “The children learn Bible stories, memorize verses, play review games, sing songs and get to meet in small groups. This is an excellent program that we are always excited to have new volunteers.”
Mathis appreciates the bus ministry and encourages members to take advantage of the free transportation.
“We get a wonderful opportunity to minister to unchurched families through this outreach,” Mathis said. “We encourage the children in foundations for their Christian life such as prayer, daily bible reading and Scripture memory. It is wonderful for these children to learn these disciplines early. We’ve even had some feedback about parents who end up reading the daily devotion books with the children and are learning as well.”
Mathis enjoys all of the volunteers, staff and opportunities she is able to assist and experience at the church. College students are encouraged to volunteer and help in the ministry of their desire.
“I think we have a good size staff for the size church we have; therefore, it makes it easy for us as staff members to be able to really invest our time in our interns,” Mathis said. “They get to share a lot of experiences with us, and it makes it easier to train them in what it is really like to be in the ministry!”
A Bible study open to college students is at 6:00 on Sunday evenings. Sunday morning worship begins at 10 a.m. and Wednesday evening worship begins at 7 p.m.