Hope Grows

Ben Newell talks with church members about ways to engage in Helena-West Helena, Ark., during the annual summer mission blitz called All Church Challenge. Carla Wynn Davis photo

This city, right next to the Mississippi River, had good days once when lumber mills, cotton farms and a large tire manufacturer created plenty of jobs. But those jobs have been gone for decades, and now nearly four in 10 residents are living below the federal poverty line.  Many don’t have hope that things will ever get better, but the Newells – along with a host of Fellowship partner churches – are out to change that. 

Committed not to charity but to transformation, the Newells arrived in 2002 with questions, not answers: “What are this community’s hopes, dreams and priorities – and how can we help?”  In the years since, they’ve come alongside the community – doing with and not for. It’s part of sharing the gospel not only with words but with hands and feet.  Two-time summer Student.Go ministry intern Catherine Bahn attests to the progress an assets-based approach is making.

“The ministry here, it's working. It's accomplishing goals that they've set.  It's changing lives; it's changing people,” she said. “I don't know what could be better than that.”
 

Beginning to believe

A former occupational therapist, Leonora Newell is passionate about giving local children a good start toward a good future, which includes an emphasis on literacy. Carla Wynn Davis photo

He used to be serious when he said it, thinking Ben’s ideas were just too good to be true for a city in such decline. Now – after what he’s seen and been part of – it’s become an inside joke they share. He has come to truly believe in what the body of Christ can do together. 

A once-condemned community center has been restored. There’s a thriving community garden on the roughest block in the city and two others that together could produce five tons of food a year. The city pool now has a new pool house, pavilion and two weeks of summer swimming camps led by members of Fellowship partner churches. Local swim instructors have also been trained leading to hundreds of residents learning to swim, including one adult named Frank.

When he was 11 years old, Frank almost drowned. He hadn’t been near the water in more than 40 years. But it haunted him that if his grandchildren, who learned how to swim at the camp, ever needed help, he couldn’t rescue them. At the end of his first swimming class, he swam underwater and emerged thanking God for enabling what he thought was impossible. 

These examples are just the beginning of people who believe in themselves and possibilities more today than they did before the Newells arrived and the ministry began. There’s Zipporah Mondy, who observed and helped in the summer camps for several years. She now plans and leads the annual youth camp.

There’s Tracy Davis, who stumbled upon the ministry one summer and is now the director of the local community center. She’s the only mother figure some local children will ever know.

There’s Vivian Hoskins, who cried the day she saw a group of children playing, sharing and reading at the ministry’s library in the community center.

“We didn’t have a play space in our community where they can just be children,” she told Leonora.

Now, that library room isn’t the only positive place for children and youth. The Newells helped start Imagination Station, an art room where children learn God created them and discover they can be creators, too. 

“The kids are in there and they say, ‘Yes, I can dream,’” Leonora said. “For so many, [that] was missing.”

Dreams don’t get far without strong educational fundamentals such as knowing how to read. That’s why the ministry has the Stories on Wheels bus. During the summer this mobile library travels throughout Phillips County, reaching children as young as 3 years old. Volunteers read books and Bible stories aloud, and each child takes a book home. Children learn about the world, other people, God and themselves. 

“We’re instilling a love for reading and a love for getting to know what our world is all about,” Leonora said. “Our library imparts hope. It’s going to change the face of poverty for these children.”
 

Coming together

Catherine Gibson has lived in the area for a long time and can see something else changing in city – people joining together for the greater good.

“I see more unity now in Helena than I’ve ever witnessed in my life,” she said. “I'm witnessing black and white coming to the same building to worship God.  I'm starting to see the community pull together.”

That unity is best seen during the annual All Church Challenge, a two-week missions blitz that brings Fellowship partner churches from all over the country to Phillips County. They help lead children’s and youth camps, teach swimming, do construction, work in the community gardens and more. Inspired to help their own community, local residents are now leading some of the ministries. This is exactly what the Newells hope to see more of.

“Local participation is the secret to ownership and long-term sustainability,” Ben said. “If we don't start getting local people owning this ministry, CBF will always be here.  And that's not what we want, we want the community to stand on its own and be empowered.”

Churches that come and participate every year like Hayes Barton Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C., have “seen the progress,” said Kristen Muse, the church’s minister to children. “If we didn’t come back year after year, we wouldn't see what God has done.”

People are choosing to follow Christ, to see potential where they once saw none, and to hope for better days ahead in their own lives and community. 

“Now, we most certainly have a spirit of hope,” said local resident Harold Duncan. “We hope things can be turned around.”
 

Embracing the world

Catherine Bahn has served in Helena-West Helena year after year, working mainly with local children. Carla Wynn Davis photo

“The Offering for Global Missions is paramount to us,” Ben said. “It's our foundation for us to be out here. And we feel that, and we don't take it lightly.  We know that we would not be here unless people in the churches felt they could give and that we would take care of that gift; we'd be good stewards of that; and be the presence of Christ in places that they could not necessarily be on the ground and doing it themselves.” 

As important as giving is, going to serve for a few days or a week can transform lives, too.

“You're exposed to missions when you come to Helena. You're exposed to dealing with poverty,” Leonora said. “Then you go to your community and suddenly your eyes will be open to seeing the need in your own community, and it will transform you.  You will end up wanting to do something right then, right there.”

By Carla Wynn Davis, CBF Communications