Summit Church held a “ground blessing” on Oct. 26. (Submitted)
Part of the vision of The Summit family of churches is to spiritually impact 100 countries through prayer, planting, and partnering. Planting realistically means sending Summit church members to live long-term in a country. Which in turns means preparing its missionaries for the task ahead but also caring for them as they are sent to serve and share the love of Jesus with the nations.
To help further provide that support and care for their missionaries, also called field workers, Summit Church is building two cottage-style missionary homes on its Conway property.
On Oct. 26, The Summit family of churches held a “ground blessing,” a time of prayer and blessing, at the site.
“This is an incredible moment for our family of churches,” Global Engage Pastor Kevin Black said in a video on The Summit Church website about the project. “At any given time, Summit has over 30 adults serving as long term workers. So stateside housing is a huge need. In the past, we’ve had to rely on other churches in central Arkansas to house our field workers. For the first time, we will have homes for our field workers to stay in while they are on furlough. These homes will be a place where Summit workers can come for rest, renewal, and restoration.”
Skilled workers from all four of the Summit churches will join in the construction efforts by volunteering their labor and talents.
Executive Pastor Jeremy Lively said “God has given us, and every church, just so many skilled people. They do this day to day,” he said. “We felt from a stewardship standpoint we are able to do it, so let’s do it.” Lively added God has done some miraculous things over the last year in terms of folks coming together for the project. “It’s all Him,” he said.
One of the homes will feature three bedrooms and two bathrooms, while the other will have two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Both will offer all the necessities, from toys for children and clothing to pots and pans, for the field workers while on furlough. “The hope would be that all those things are provided for those families when they come,” said Communications Director Jenna Lee.
The construction of these field worker homes will, hopefully, further show missionaries that they have a family of churches that care for them and encourage the person in the pew who may be wrestling with their call to missions. “We love what God is having us do here, but it is such a small drop in the bucket for the need,” Lively said.
Over the years, the Summit family of churches has had a great impact on the world. Since 2018, they have spiritually impacted 26 countries, from the Middle East to Europe, meaning they have had or currently have field workers on the ground in those countries. But there is still more to do. There are still billions worldwide that remain unreached by the Gospel.
For more about The Summit Church and their global engage efforts, check out thesummitchurch.org/globalengage.