‘God is not through with us yet’: Emmanuel Baptist Church in Waco’s replant story

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Emmanuel Baptist Church in Waco temporarily closed its doors for the safety of its congregation, but had considered the possibility of permanent closure because of its dwindling numbers and lack of a lead pastor. 

When the holiday season approached, the church decided to gather for a Christmas service. In hopes of finding someone to come preach a sermon, a deacon at Emmanuel reached out to Truett Seminary, who connected him with Marcelo De Oliveira, who gladly accepted. 

“I was going to Truett at the time and I went and preached that sermon, and Charles McLain, one of the deacons at the church who contacted me, at the end of the service said ‘Well, are you free this coming Sunday?’ I said ‘Sure,’” said Oliveira.

He returned to preach the following Sunday. 

Replant inspired by the Holy Spirit

In late January 2021, after several more weeks of being invited back to preach at Emmanuel, Oliveira said he and the church were in agreement that he should stay and pastor their congregation. Oliveira led the church through an intentional replant process. Since then, the church body has grown from 17 members in 2020 to 72 active members today. He said the church’s inspiration to replant came from the Holy Spirit.

“God, for sure, is the one who inspired us. His Spirit, his life, being brought to life as a church,” said Oliveira.

One member, who Oliveira said had a profound impact on his ministry, told him prior to her passing that before his arrival, the church was constantly urged to shut down, that there was nothing left of it. But, she was encouraged by his faith that the church would be restored. She told him she believed that his proclamation of that faith to the congregation spurred them on to believe the same. 

“[She said] ‘You are the first pastor … that in the service from the pulpit, you said ‘I believe in this church and I believe God will bring us back,’” said Oliveira. “I would say that God is bringing us back because He’s not through with us yet.”

A heart for reaching people

Involving themselves in international missions through prayer and financial offerings, Oliveira said the church has developed a heart for reaching the people in their neighborhood. 

“It’s becoming like a mission field, so to speak, and I think it’s coming into the hearts and minds of the people who are in the church, that they prayed and they sent offering and prayers and love and cards to missionaries around the world and now God placed them here and their new mission field is their neighborhood,” said Oliveira. “This is encouraging us to grow back up and to see God working.”

Lee Williams, Texas Baptists’ Church Starting strategist for Central Texas, said the church is expecting growth due to their adopted heart for evangelism in their community. 

“It's becoming a younger congregation, so we’re expecting some potential future growth due to the fact that they have such a heart for the community and a heart for evangelism, and because of that, it’s drawing fresh faces and perspectives and opportunities to their church,” said Williams. 

Williams said upon first meeting with Oliveira about Emmanuel’s replant, he was encouraged by his heart for the next generation and meeting people where they are. He said Oliveira’s passion for people has played a significant role in Emmanuel’s regrowth. 

“To replant, a church has to be willing to rethink everything about their vision, strategy and implementation of that strategy,” said Tom Howe, associate director for Center for Missional Engagement at Texas Baptists. “Everything has to be on the table.”

According to Williams, other churches looking to replant could learn from Emmanuel how to do this well; how to bring some positivity, and fresh perspective and opportunities, trying new things in their replant process, without dwelling on what the culture once was.

“You could tell his heart was for sharing the love of Christ and introducing people to Christ,” said Williams. “Because his passion was more for the people instead of for the preaching, I really think that’s what’s helped Emmanuel become as great as it is.”

Upcoming milestone anniversary

On Sept. 15, Emmanuel is set to celebrate its 94th anniversary and with it, the revitalization of its church body. The church will hold a celebration service on that day and will celebrate four new believers coming forward to be baptized on Nov. 10. 

“Baptism always represents life, new life, transformation of life. A life that was going one direction but has turned around and is now going in a different direction,” said Oliveira. “To the church it means ‘Hey, God is at work here in this place.’ It also means to the church, ‘Hey, God is using us and our church to reach out.’ So it means to us as a church, God is not through with us yet.”

God has also cultivated an international body within the church. Today, fourteen different countries and eleven nationalities are represented at Emmanuel – four countries in Asia, five countries in Africa, two countries in South America and three countries in Central America. The church also shares their space with the Waco Chinese Church.

Looking forward to celebrating 94 years, Oliveira said it has been particularly special to the older generations of the church as they reflect on their 90th anniversary in 2020. 

“When we had our 90th anniversary, they were like ‘Well, this is it’ and now we’re four years beyond it and we are already beginning to plan and pray for our 100th anniversary,” said Oliveira. “[So], they’re already able to see ‘hey, the church will stay here beyond us and it's okay and we can plan and leave this legacy and the church will not die with us.’”

Cultivating new life and fulfilling the Great Commission

Williams said sometimes replanting a church just means it needs “a facelift and fresh opportunity,” to continue to have life and create new life within it. 

One way Emmanuel plans to cultivate new life within their church is by working with Texas Baptists to get some translation equipment to be able to host trilingual services. This way, the Waco Chinese Church, Emmanuel and Spanish speakers in the community can come and worship together.

“If there’s an opportunity for a church to replant, versus being closed down completely, again that means we still have a mission to fulfill,” said Williams. 

Replanting is a great way to fulfill the great commission, he said, without losing one of our great Baptist churches. 

To learn how the Center for Missional Engagement can support your church replant, visit txb.org/churchstarting.