Mark Jones, Church Planter In Lincoln, Nebraska
By Carolyn Gibbs
Community Harvest is part of what Pastor Mark Jones does every day in northeast Lincoln. Harvesting in the community started with planting a church. “We launched Community Harvest Church September 9, 2007, but we started with a preliminary service last summer,” Jones said.
Church planting started for Jones when he was doing pulpit supply in Hastings, Nebraska. For evangelism he went door to door and realized there were a lot of people who had never heard the Gospel before. “My impression was small town America where there are a lot of churches and a lot of Christians,” he said.
“It was a real eye opener for me. As I passed other towns on the way to Hastings, I wondered if that was the case in other towns.” He found it was true.
God laid on his heart the desire to plant a church that would in turn plant other churches to fill that need in Nebraska. He had a friend and mentor who was a Southern Baptist Church planter. “He talked to me about becoming Southern Baptist, and about how good Southern Baptists are at Church planting. I started talking to people at South View Baptist Church in Lincoln,” Jones said.
He discovered that church planting is South View’s evangelism strategy. With that, God began opening doors. South View called a new pastor who had a heart for mission and church planting. Jones joined the church and also became their youth pastor. “We kept dreaming and talking about planting a church and where. There’s a need all across North west, central and north east Lincoln,” he said. From there God connected him with the right people and putting everything together.
About that time Eastern Nebraska Baptist Association Director of Missions, Mark Elliott had a Vision tour and through that several churches came forward that wanted to support Jones to plant a church in northeast Lincoln.
Community Harvest Church now meets in Meadow Lane Elementary school with an average of 69 to 75 in attendance. “God laid on my heart before we began that to get people’s attention and win their hearts, we would have to serve them,” Jones said. They went door to door, asking if they could do any projects around the homes or pray for them. The congregation has done everything from roofing, building patios, decks, handicap ramps, yard work, and painting. They’ve helped with VBS and several block parties.“
The main way to harvest a community is with service projects. The church has been blessed with people who can make that happen. Jones has some carpentry ability; one family owns a garbage service and can haul scraps and trash. One man wrote the VBS program, produced it, and built elaborate sets, to act out the parables every night.
The biggest vision will be to plant a church in every county seat in Nebraska. “We want to be a church- planting church. I’d like to see us involved in that and continue our service projects,” Jones said. “We want to show people God’s love in practical ways.”
One unique area of ministry the church is pursuing is a ministry for mentally handicapped. Jones said there is a need for that in the community. He believes these people and their families can be isolated from church. “We would have workers that could work with them and assimilate them into the church and let them be involved as much as they are able,” he said.
He would like to expand the service projects to include helping people find housing and help them financially. God has also given the church a heart for those delivered from drug abuse.
Jones said he would like to have their own building, but it’s not an immediate need. “When people ask, we explain that the church isn’t the building, it’s the people. We want a building that can be used 24/7,” Jones said.
Through the process Jones has been blessed. “To see people experience the love of God through the church … that’s been the coolest experience.”