Alief churches merge for international focus
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___ALIEF--Like branches of trees grafted together, the union of two Baptist churches in a small Texas town is producing new fruit.
___On July 29, First Baptist Church of Alief merged with Philippine International Baptist Church to become First Baptist Church: An International Church Family.
___Alief, located northwest of Houston, has become an international community, with Asians, Hispanics, African-Americans and Caucasians each making up about a quarter of the population, explained Pastor David Shaw. For this reason, the merger should give the church a greater connection to the community, he predicted.
___The newly combined church runs about 100 in weekly attendance, with Filipinos making up about a quarter of the attendance.
___While the union of the congregations into a single body is a new thing, the people involved have a relationship that goes back almost three years. In November 1998, the leadership of the Filipino church came to the Anglo church looking for a place for worship and discipleship.
___That shared-space arrangement worked well until the pastor of the Filipino church resigned in August 2000. The congregation approached Shaw about helping them find a new pastor. As he met with the leadership, the idea gradually began to emerge of melding the two communities of faith.
___The first Sunday in December, the two congregations met together for the first time. The churches remained autonomous but continued to meet together on Sunday mornings.
___As the joint worship services went well, the impetus to become a single church grew. Conditions for unification were worked out and approved by both churches.
___Shaw said the Filipino portion of the congregation is largely comprised of professionals who speak English well, so there was never a language barrier. The church has changed its worship music, however, from a traditional style to a blended style.
___Although not directly related to the merger, the church also is changing the way it does adult Sunday School, moving from an age-graded approach to a modular, topical approach believed to be of greater interest to younger adults, Shaw reported.
___The church now is better prepared to minister to its international community, Shaw said.
___"This congregation is open to ministering to this community by any means they can," he said. "The combination of the two churches is something both are excited about because First Baptist Church Alief has been declining for 20 years, and the Caucasian population is growing older. The Philippine part of the church is largely younger, so it is possible the church could one day become largely Philippine."
___
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