OWENSBORO, Ky. — 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 includes 17 different tribal groups.
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.
Bellevue Myanmar worshiped on the Bellevue campus for about 12 years, moving from there to rent a small church around Easter 2024. But the congregation continued to look for a building, and the opportunity arose to buy what previously was a Greyhound bus terminal.
Haokip said every Saturday the church hosts a youth fellowship starting at 6 p.m. with the goal of preparing youth to chart the course for future generations.
On Sunday, small group/Sunday school classes meet from 11:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m., then the main worship service is from 2-4 p.m. On Wednesday nights there is Bible study from 6-7 p.m. Currently the church has about 120 people attending.
Haokip said Bellevue Baptist “has been a great help,” but added that “having a building to call our own” will enable the church to do more in gospel outreach and enhance program aspects. Haokip said the July 13 celebration was attended by Kentucky State Rep. DJ Johnson as well as representatives from Bellevue Baptist. Haokip voiced his appreciation for Bellevue and the “great blessing it has been.”
Refugees from Burma (now called Myanmar) who arrived in Owensboro in the 2010s prompted Bellevue leadership to organize a church to minister to people from Burma and other countries in the region, such as Thailand and Malaysia.
Billy Bell, Bellevue executive pastor, said Bellevue Myanmar has been meeting in its newly acquired building for a few months. “They bought it and did renovation. We helped them be constituted as a church on their own.”
Bell said he has had the opportunity to attend some worship services there. “Pastor Kim invited me to preach at the church a couple of times. They really honor their pastors. We helped them as they launched out with their constitution and bylaws. They are doing a great work with the Burmese people and great work in the community.”
Danny Gray, missions director at Bellevue, said Bellevue took a short-term mission trip to Thailand years ago and worked with International Mission Board (IMB) missionaries who were doing ministry in refugee camps. “Because of that short-term trip, many of us had an understanding of the needs of Asian people.”
He said when community meetings started in Owensboro for refugee resettlement, Bellevue members were quick to become involved.
“It was a real impression from the Lord about us being involved in that,” Gray said. “People from that mission team started working with the refugee resettlement center. We started going to airports to pick up people and helping with housing and food to get our foot in the door.”
When the Burmese congregation began meeting at Bellevue in 2012, there was a small core group of 10-12 people.
“We allowed them to be culturally relevant for themselves. We had a bus ministry to bring them to church and activities during the week. We showed them how much we loved them and wanted them to be a part of Bellevue.”
In addition, Bellevue hosted two other Myanmar ethnic groups which have branched off to become churches — Zomi Baptist Church and Chin Emmanuel Baptist Church.
Gray noted that Haokip “is a very humble man who has done a tremendous job in that church,” noting Haokip is part of the North American Mission Board’s Asian Collective, which is a missional network within the Southern Baptist Convention that focuses on gospel partnership among diverse Asian national organizations and ministries. “He holds an office in that group and is very active in the Kentucky Baptist Convention.”
Eddie Torres, KBC multi-language evangelism strategist, was among those attending the dedication. “The day was amazing,” he said. “Myanmar has a different culture. There were different cultures there — Burmese, Chin, Karen — with different languages. That particular church has people from all those ethnicities together. That is hard to do.
“The church is open to everyone — that is the mentality of the church,” Torres added. “I love that. The church needs to be open to everyone — not only a certain group of people, but everyone.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE — This article originally appeared in Kentucky Today.)
