Little Church Gives Big to Missions

In sparsely-populated farmland west of Hannibal, Missouri, sits 101-year-old Nelsonville Assembly of God, a small church with a big commitment to missions. Each year, the congregation of less than 100 attendees gives 30 to 50 percent of its entire budget to missions work. The church also sends teams overseas each year to allow every congregant an opportunity to serve.

"Nelsonville Assembly of God is a remarkable spiritual anomaly!” Paul McDonald, Northern Missouri District superintendent, told AG News by email. “Since 2005, the church has contributed over $1.6 million to missions, including over $578,000 since 2018. What makes Nelsonville Assembly of God (with a congregation of 90-100) particularly exciting is its steadfast commitment to missions and its compassion for addressing the needs of people in the surrounding communities."

Recently, Nelsonville AG began building a compassion center on the church campus to expand its partnership with Convoy of Hope's Rural Compassion Initiative. This will allow greater food distribution and offer a short-term apartment for the temporarily displaced.

“The Lord has used this place’s longevity and different experiences to create a heart of passion for missions over time,” says pastor Isaiah Jesch, who came to lead the church in 2018 with his wife, Melia. They have three young children.

Nelsonville AG sits on a county road with just 5,000 residents within a forty-minute driving radius. The nearest grocery store is 30 minutes away. Most in the congregation work in banking, finance, agriculture, and education, with many employed by the local school as teachers, coaches, and staff.

The church has supported missions since its founding in 1923, just nine years after the incorporation of the Assemblies of God Fellowship, and that commitment accelerated in 2003 under the previous pastor who called the church to an even greater investment to reach the lost.

The church now gives monthly to 21 missionary units domestically and abroad, and to six district initiatives and national departments including U.S. Missions, World Missions, AMA, BGMC, COMPACT Family Services, Light for the Lost, Teen Challenge, Convoy of Hope, and a homegrown missions organization founded by a member of the church.

“It’s astounding that we’ve been able to give as much as we have and partner with missionaries the way we have,” says Jesch. “The church is always asking, when missionaries retire, ‘Who are we taking on next?’ There’s never a sense of, ‘Let’s downsize.’ We keep the missionaries a priority.”

Reed Plunkett, 28, is a seventh-generation farmer and at least the fourth generation in his family to attend Nelsonville AG. He spoke while going to buy a new bearing for the “shaker deck” of his combine machine, which broke while he and his father were harvesting soybeans. Plunkett and his wife, Stephanie, have two children and one on the way, and between them they have taken missions trips to Guatemala, France, and Peru.

“When our previous pastor came in 2003, missions became a big emphasis and resonated with the congregation,” says Plunkett. “It has been a nonstop emphasis ever since. … I think the Lord has blessed that. Matthew 28 is very clear on the role of disciples and I think that’s lived out in a local church’s support of missions.”

Reed’s grandfather, who attends the church, started a mission organization specifically to serve AG churches in Guatemala, and Reed went on a ten-day missions trip with him while in college. They performed manual labor to construct a church, delivered humanitarian aid, and spoke almost nightly at church events. Today, Reed serves on Nelsonville’s board of deacons.

Many families in the church are raising young children, so Jesch and the leadership have mapped out missions efforts through 2030 so mothers and fathers can plan to participate when their kids become older.

“We want to give everyone in the church opportunities to experience a missions trip,” Jesch says. Serving the new generation “ties into that missions heart.”

Missions teams often go to western Guatemala for a week or more to conduct outreaches, especially to kids and young people, plus work with local churches to distribute clothing, help erect or improve church buildings, and train pastors for ministry.

All work is done through local AG churches and with strong support from the AG national church in Guatemala. Most participants pay their own way, but those who need help are subsidized so that finances are not a barrier to someone experiencing missions work first-hand.

The church is also ramping up local ministry by building a compassion center attached to the church which will store and distribute supplies from Convoy of Hope’s Rural Initiatives. Built into the center will be a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment to provide temporary housing.

“We looked at our resources and the needs around us and said this is something we want to commit to doing; we know this project is more than just a temporary thing,” says Jesch. “We are here for a reason and I think the Lord has sustained us for over 100 years because he wants us in this place to invest in ministry like this.”

Last year was Nelsonville’s largest in terms of financial giving, and the small congregation continues to experience greater annual income that they use to increase investments in missions.

“We have a responsibility to be a blessing to others, locally and globally, and to see the Gospel spread,” says Jesch. “Everything we do comes back to that vision. By God’s grace we feel like we’re making an impact for the kingdom.”