Having a church building to call its own was cause for great celebration Sunday (July 13) for Bellevue Myanmar Baptist Church.
The ribbon cutting and dedication of a building is significant for the ethnic culture that is not only Burmese, but involves 17 different tribal groups.
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Greg Faulls, senior pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church, said the significance of Sunday’s celebration “is found in the fact that they have developed and organized and resourced themselves so well that they can launch out on their own.”
“The culture of that church, of those people, is that sacred space matters. This has been very important for the people they are trying to reach,” Faulls said.
He recalled years ago when the ethnic congregation began at Bellevue and was meeting in the church’s gym. “The people they were trying to reach were saying ‘you are in a gym, this isn’t a holy space.’ They struggled with that. Now they have a place that is a dedicated sanctuary, so it has evangelistic significance.”
Kamlen Haokip, who became the Bellevue Myanmar pastor in early 2020, said the church will be focused on reaching the large percentage of unreached people in the community. “We’re grateful God has placed us here,” Haokip said.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Chip Hutcheson and originally published by Kentucky Today.
