May 20, 2025
CLARKSVILLE, Ga. — Building relationships across state lines and serving as one family is what Bethlehem Baptist Church in Clarksville and Emmaus Church in Manchester, N.H., have been doing together for the past four years.
“It’s been honestly a real special partnership. I don’t know if we could have found a more perfect church to partner with. The heart behind both churches just perfectly fits for each other. It really does feel like we kinda have a little family, just a little further north basically,” said Graham Parris, Bethlehem’s minister to students and mission team lead since 2024.
It’s been a huge blessing for Emmaus, a church of 30 people, to walk alongside a church of 500, said Emmaus Pastor Kevin Fortier. “They come up here every year, and the two churches have gotten to know each other. There’s been a real connection.”
Since 2021, the two churches have come together in the spring and summer.
In New Hampshire, the teams combined to do construction on New Hope Christian Fellowship in Bedford, N.H., which is pastored by Will Fortier, Kevin’s son, as well as helping with outreaches in parks, door-to-door church invitations, prayer walking, service at a homeless shelter, and church worship and fellowship. On one trip, Bethlehem helped Emmaus with a transportation ministry at New Hampshire Motor Speedway as part of the annual NASCAR race
In Georgia, the churches partnered to minister at Victory Home, a recovery ministry in Tallulah Falls, and a recovery ministry in Demorest. The team also visited, prayed for, and cooked for Appalachian Trail hikers via Unicoi Gap. They also served with Clarkston International Bible Church, where they learned about ministry to the refugee community and helped promote Clarkston International’s Easter services in a local apartment complex.
The partnership has been great and encouraging, said Bethlehem’s Senior Pastor Rick Hermann. “It feels like both churches genuinely love each other. Our church definitely has a heart for Emmaus.”
Keith Ivey, Bethlehem’s missions director and Georgia Baptist Mission Board missions consultant, agrees. “The trips have created positive relationships. I’ve grown a greater understanding of how we can be an encouragement to the church in New Hampshire. We’ve grown more understanding of how we can serve with them here in Georgia.
“It’s not just a project in some distant land. Our congregation and people who have never been to New Hampshire have a personal relationship with Kevin and Lisa (Kevin’s wife),” said Ivey. He said Bethlehem members keep up with them on social media and “when they pray for them, they pray for a friend.”
The partnership has grown strong personal relationships, and Emmaus Pastor Fortier said Bethlehem members are like family. On Wednesday nights, Bethlehem has a community supper to offer affordable meals for families at a low cost. “We walk in the door, and all these people were greeting us because they remember us. You can’t tell 500 people what is going on all the time, but we walked in the door and it was like ‘Oh, family has come to visit. It was phenomenal,” Fortier said.
This partnership began four years ago when Ivey, as part of his job at GBMB, began traveling to New England with Georgia pastors and mission leaders to help foster church-to-church missional partnerships.
Fortier was surprised by the phone call. “My wife and I prayed a lot, ‘Lord, we’d like somebody that can come alongside us and vice versa.’” Fortier had never met Ivey, but after a Zoom meeting with Ivey, former Bethlehem pastor Craig Ward, now GBMB’s Pastor Wellness Catalyst for the Northwest Region, and a couple of Bethlehem leaders, the partnership was created.
“We connected immediately,” said Fortier. Kevin told them he didn’t want this to be a one-and-done thing where they have a team and never come back. They wanted it to be a two-way street and wanted the church to realize there is more ministry than just their neighborhood. “They loved that, and they sent a team up here.”
The partnership is a learning experience for both groups.
For Emmaus, it’s opening their eyes to the possibility that God could use them in ways that go beyond what they ever imagined, said Fortier. “When these kind of things are happening and when they see the enthusiasm of other believers, it’s reminding the veterans of their first love, it’s reinvigorating the walk for those who have been around the church for a while, but for the new folks, they are starting to see that passion that you read about in Revelation.”
For Bethlehem, it’s seeing how others do ministry.
“I think Emmaus has 40 people in it, and on a Sunday, we have 400 to 500 people. It’s pretty obvious how a big church can help a small church, but he question I’ve always struggled with is, ‘How does a small church help a big church?’ I really do think that grounding idea is what Emmaus has to offer us. They have to be committed and grounded in what they are doing and why they do it in order to push forward. And, I think that slowly over time, that has continued to melt off on us,” said Parris.
The partnership has seen many great experiences.
In New Hampshire, both churches partnered with a local organization called Rise Again Outreach to provide transportation for handicapped people at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway for its 2024 annual NASCAR race, and “to have faith conversations,” said Parris.
During the mission, the churches cooked a pancake breakfast, helped with a pinewood derby for kids, and shuttled people to campsites and parking places.
“Various generations participated in this mission trip, and some 18-year-olds got to drive the golf carts, and they got to experience things that they normally wouldn’t. It was just amazing to see the impact it had on them. They interacted with brokenness and opportunities they haven’t been exposed to,” Parris said.
“It was great because we got to pitch in and do these things together and do ministry side-by-side,” said Fortier.
In Georgia each year, the churches combine to minister to hikers on the Appalachian Trail.
“I wanna call it trail blessings,” said Fortier. “Just to be able to pray for folks and meet people. We’ve actually got names and photographs of all the people that we talk to down there, so we can pause and pray for them back here. That’s really something special.”
The partnership is a reminder to be mindful of sister churches.
“There are a lot of churches that need help and encouragement, so it kind of reminds me of the New Testament where the apostle Paul would go to all these churches and how they would help one another out. I think it keeps us with the Biblical perspective that ministry everywhere is not like here in Clarksville, Georgia. It’s a lot different,” said Hermann.
The partnership has a bright future.
In July 2025, Bethlehem will bring approximately 20 people to help lead a three-day family discipleship conference at New Hope. Two churches from the area will coordinate it, and others will be invited to join it. The focus will be on the spiritual disciplines.
Ivey hopes this partnership will inspire others to be obedient to God’s call to the nations in Acts 1:8. “I do believe God has called us to go. We make a big deal about exactly where we’re supposed to go, but we are mainly supposed to just go. He’s given us the mission, which is to go make disciples, He’s given us the strategy to do it to the uttermost parts of the world. And He gave us all of that clearly.”
He adds, “I encourage churches to take that leap of faith and to do something that might feel uncomfortable, or they might feel they are not capable or prepared to do. God’s got it. Any church, no matter the size or the setting, can engage in this kind of intentional partnership. Because it’s really about relationships. Small teams can make an impact.”
Fortier wants his church to embrace this. “I’d love it if every single person in our church got the opportunity to go down there and be a part of this and get to know the people there, and that it becomes this deeper relationship. As we do this, the glory of God, the light of Christ, is growing.”
