First Baptist Church Center unites around reaching, discipling, supporting young families

First Baptist Church Pastor Porter Brewer said his goal is for the church to be a place that reaches young adults and families, while also valuing being multigenerational. 

“We talk about [being] a church that is multigenerational, and to do that, we're a church that protects unity. We honor one another, we protect unity and the result of that, we believe, is something beautiful, the ability to be a multigenerational church,” said Brewer. 

Beyond being a multigenerational church, Brewer said his greatest desire is that FBC Center would be a church that is pleasing to the Lord and will make disciples who will be faithful in discipling others. 

“The goal is not just to get [young adults and families] in the building, but that we are going to mature and disciple a group of people who will then be faithful to disciple others… and within that, you can remove distractions, and you can try to meet needs [in the church],” said Brewer. 

Sacrificing time to support young mothers, families

When Brewer was called to be pastor in February 2024, his wife was in her third trimester of pregnancy so when the two began to consider things that make it challenging for young families to attend church, their stage of life made needs easy to diagnose.

"Something that I believe and that our church is really on board with is the idea that it is a God-glorifying thing to have people in their 90s in the service as mamas holding babies. That's the way God designed it to be… [but] holding a crying baby [in service] can be stressful for a mom,” explained Brewer. 

So, to meet a need of young mothers, FBC Center staff emptied out a storage room, put new floors in, painted the walls, put a sign on the door that says “Nursing Mothers,” got a couple rocking chairs and put a TV on the wall, to provide a space where mothers can nurse their babies and watch a livestream of the service.  

“It meets an important need because wrangling kids during church is hard, and even nursing your baby, where is that supposed to happen on a practical level?... [So] we say from time to time, ‘A crying baby is a beautiful sound in a church service, but if it makes you feel more comfortable, we have a nursing mother's room where we have the service streaming [for you],’” explained Brewer. 

Brewer said he is thankful for the leaders of FBC Center’s young adult family classes, who have done a great job of forming a family in that group by organizing fellowships, individual check-ins with each family and throwing a baby shower for “every single baby that has been born in the church. He said they have been “the rock for our ability to grow that area of our church.” 

“Most young people desire to have mentor relationships with people older than them and to feel this source of community support from their church family. Our baby showers have been such a big part of that. Our older women come through in a big way to love on those young women,” said Brewer. 

In the last three years, Brewer said these families have dedicated a total of 27 babies to the Lord. 

Brewer said that to be a multigenerational church “requires sacrifice, but it is a strength of our church.” He shared that he has seen that ring true in the way the church nursery has grown. 

“When we got here, in our nursery I think there were like three kids, including our two, and now on a weekly basis, we can have 30 or even 40 [kids] back there,” said Brewer. “We are always asking people to sign up for the nursery, whether you have kids in the ministry or not, and our church has really gotten on board with that. Our nursery rotation is over 40 women right now… We've been very blessed that our church has desired [to think about how we can reach younger families].”

Kids’ Church a happy medium for kids and parents to be spiritually fed 

To further meet the needs of young families, FBC Center implemented Kids’ Church, a time where kids from kindergarten through third grade worship in the service with their family, but just before the sermon, they get dismissed to go and get a kid-friendly lesson. Brewer said this was also inspired by his and his wife’s stage of life coming onto the church staff. 

“We had a four-year-old at the time, and we were like, "Okay, this is kind of stressful. What are we going to do with her during the service?" And we realized if we're asking that question, then so is everybody else in that stage in life,” explained Brewer. “That was a big part of thinking through how we reach young families. ‘What are the obstacles? What makes it difficult for young families to come to church? How can we try to meet them where they are and be a church that gives them rest and feeds them?’” 

Brewer said implementing Kids’ Church created a happy medium for both kids and their parents to be spiritually fed without distraction. 

“We cut [Kids’ Church participation] off at third grade because we believe that there's value in a kid learning to sit in church, too… that's why we [created] that middle ground spot where we want parents to be able to rest and relax and be fed, undistracted. We want kids to be able to enjoy church, but we did not want to lose the value of a family worshiping together,” said Brewer.

Amy Sandford, Children and Family minister at FBC Center, said implementing kids’ church during Sunday worship service has allowed children to receive Bible teaching “on a level that is meaningful and relevant” to them. 

“The kids are excited to come each week and are more engaged during lessons. They enjoy having a space that feels like it’s just for them, and we’re seeing more participation, energy and willingness to be involved,” said Sanford. “Many [parents] have shared that their children are talking about what they learned at home, which shows that the lessons are connecting.”

Brewer said, “You can’t have a unified church without a unified staff, and we are very blessed to have a unified staff that takes care of each other.” 

“We very much try to support our children's minister and the children's activities. We try to be all hands on deck and support those things, but [Sandford] does as much for everybody else as anybody does for her, if not more,” said Brewer. “She does a wonderful job, and I'm thankful for her.” 

Remodeling children’s area to make families feel safe 

FBC Center also remodeled their children’s area to help parents feel confident in the care their children are receiving. Sanford said that it has had a very positive impact on their ministry. 

“The updated space has created a more welcoming, safe and engaging environment for children, which helps them feel excited about coming to church. It also gives parents confidence that their kids are being cared for in a place designed specifically for them,” said Sanford.

Brewer echoed this. He said remodeling the children’s area was a low-hanging fruit service that the church could do to help parents decide, “Is my kid going to be safe in this spot?”  

“It is a little bit of a nerve-wracking thing to leave your kids with people you don't know and to walk away where they're out of your sight… so the foot that you put forward as a church to receive those kids and to show parents, ‘We've thought through this and your kids are going to be safe,’ really goes a long way,” said Brewer.

Brewer said he has been amazingly overwhelmed at God's faithfulness over his time pastoring FBC Center. 

“When I came in, it felt very intimidating, very overwhelming. I questioned if I was ready, but I feel like that humility was a good thing because I truly did entrust it to God and say, 'Lord, if this is going to work, it's going to be you [working],’” said Brewer. “[Pastor FBC Center] has built my faith because I know that I need God in order to be successful. I know that this is something that I'm not capable of in my own power.”

Brewer said he is very proud of the unity of the church through the growth. 

“Reaching new people does require sacrifice… [and the church has been very receptive]. They have been such an incredible blessing,” said Brewer.