BNF MINISTRIES
MISSION STATEMENT
BNF Ministries is a missional community of believers committed to advancing the Kingdom of God through an Agape reformation!
(See explanation below)
OUR HISTORY
Blood-N-Fire
A Little of our Story!
The first time Blood N Fire was seen in Muncie was on a Saturday just before Christmas in 1995. The place? Muncianna Homes, a notorious and desperately needy public housing project that some very special people called home. Every Saturday morning, regardless of the weather, for several years trucks, trailers and cars full of people, food, grills, equipment and supplies would begin to appear. Smoke would start to roll from the barbeque pits, music was heard and the meal preparation was under way. Soon teams of people from a host of partner churches would join the Blood-N-Fire (BNF) core in setting up for a noon meal and then they would hit the streets of the neighborhood going door to door knocking and declaring aloud “Blood-N-Fire- groceries and prayer!” Many doors opened each week, some for groceries, some for prayer and some for both. As relationships formed and grew, it became more about visiting with one another than anything else. Everyone was invited to join us for a meal, music, ministry and fellowship-all in the name of Jesus! Much was experienced, much was learned. Our BNF City Church and Urban Ministry matured.
Over the years BNF has transitioned from weekly outreaches, door to door ministry and serving meals in the projects to sharing a meditation, then serving a community meal that is followed by our food pantry each Saturday evening. We have seen a number of our friends intentionally move into our targeted neighborhoods to live incarnationally- sharing life and love with our neighbors. What steadfastly remains is our heart to love the youth, the poor…the vulnerable. We have developed initiatives that have included: Food Pantry, After School Enrichment, Summer Youth Recreation, Prom Dress Store, Community Christmas Store, Block Parties, Holiday Outreaches, Neighborhood Service Projects, Neighborhood Gardening, etc. and we founded a community development corporation called Inside Out that produced and distributed 550,665 meals in 9 years. Blood-n-Fire (BNF) is located at 300 N. Madison Street. Our desire is to love, encourage and empower community residents in their journey towards discovering a meaningful life of faith in Jesus Christ and a way of living that is God honoring, fulfilling and sustainable.
Some thoughts about the Church…
Everywhere we go, we are His church, His Body, His life with skin on. We are on holy ground everywhere that we are because He is with us, in us, and working through us. In this way, there is no sacred verses secular because our whole lives, even as we are out in the cultures we live within, are organically connected to His kingdom life. Therefore our focus is on how to bring the reality of the sacred into my everyday life and culture and world. We are convinced the Lord desires to see that He is truly incarnated through His sons and daughters into every group of people on the earth. God wants us to communicate His wonderful message of the Kingdom in a relevant way to people everywhere. Wherever we go, as believers, God is present because we are incarnating His presence. Christ in us is the hope of glory! However we choose to gather, we simply acknowledge the importance of the community-family context out of which we live incarnationally in the world.
The church, in fact, is on a mission. Jesus went everywhere proclaiming and demonstrating the reality, love, and power of the Kingdom (healing the brokenhearted, setting captives free, proclaiming God’s acceptance, teaching, making disciples, etc.) The church, the people of God, goes and does the same.
We are determined to give expression to, by His grace, the “Good News” by living (behaviors) and speaking (His word) from faith in love!