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We are Affinity
The word affinity is used to describe a natural
attraction, feeling of kinship, inherent similarity or strong
bond between certain persons or things.
Whoever loves God must
also love his brother. [1 John 4:21].
We are named Affinity as
a testimony to the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ, which
has reconciled us to God and to one another, binds us together
as one body in Christ, and compels us to reach beyond ourselves
to bring others into this bond of love.
Mission Statement
We are the Body of Christ, called to proclaim the Good News
that Jesus is the Christ – loving God through Worship, Fellowship
and Stewardship; sharing God's love through Discipleship, Ministry
and Missions.
Vision Statement
It is our vision to be a church where God is glorified, and
where lives are transformed by the love of God revealed in Jesus
Christ.
Core Values
We are passionately committed to serving our members, the community
and our Lord. Ensuring that we meet the needs of our Christian
community, we live and evaluate our work by our biblically based
core values:
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Inclusiveness
The ministry of the Church belongs to all God's people.
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Compassion
Ministry accompanied with compassion witnesses to God's
love.
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Excellence
Ministry accomplished with excellence brings glory to God.
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Our Covenant
Having been led, as we believe, by the Spirit of God, to receive
the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, and, on the profession of
our faith, having been baptized in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we do now, in the presence
of God and this assembly, most solemnly and joyfully enter in
Covenant with on another as on body in Christ.
We engage, therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, to walk
together in Christian love; to strive for the advancement of
this Church in knowledge, holiness, and comfort; to promote its
prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its worship, ordinance,
discipline and doctrine, to contribute cheerfully, and regularly
to the support of the ministry, the expense of the church, the
relief of the poor and spread the gospel through all nations.
We also engage to maintain family and secret devotion; to religiously
educate our children; to walk circumspectly in the world; to
be just in our dealing, faithful in our engagements, and exemplary
in our deportment; to avoid tattling, backbiting and excessive
anger; and to be zealous in our efforts to advance the kingdom
of our Savior.
We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly and
sisterly love; to remember each other in prayer; to aid each
other in sickness and distress; to cultivate sympathy in feeling
and courtesy in speech; to be slow to take offense, always ready
for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior to
secure it without delay.
We moreover engage that when we remove from this place we will,
as soon as possible, unite with some other Church where we can
carry out the spirit of the Covenant and the principle of God's
word.
History
 Thirty-nine members comprised the council that organized
the Affinity Missionary Baptist Church on December 25,
1966. They called the Reverend James Edward McJunkin, Sr.,
as pastor, and held their first worship service at the
home of Willie and Barbara Youngblood, 4180 East 178th
Street, Cleveland, Ohio, where sixty people joined.
Affinity's second worship service was held on January
1, 1967, at the Broadway YMCA, East 113th Street and Miles
Avenue, where twenty more people united with the church.
Subsequent services were held at the Southeast YMCA on
Northfield Road in Bedford Heights, Ohio until Sunday,
January 19, 1969, where services were held in the renovated
property purchased at 4411 East 175th Street on December
3, 1968.
In April 1973, ground was broken for the first sanctuary,
and the congregation worshipped at St. Henry's on
Harvard Avenue until the sanctuary was completed on September
2, 1973.
In August of 1975, the Church organized the Jim McJunkin
Missionary Society. To this day, the mission of the society
remains to promote the gospel within the Church, to spread
the gospel outside the Church, and to minister to those
in need.
In 1979, under the direction of Brother Paul Banks and
Pastor McJunkin, the Church began a Four-Year Systematic
Bible Study Program. The Bible Study has graduated 223
persons, and continues to have a very excellent enrollment,
which includes 12 classes. The church had now acquired
six acres of land, the sanctuary and two houses. Affinity
also became members of the American Baptist Convention.
Using Pastor McJunkin's senior paper from
Ashland Theological Seminary, we began a project—Liberating
the Laity—where each member identified their ministry
and spiritual gifts. This project was conducted in conjunction
with the Fairview Community Church, in 1990. We have continued
our joint worship service with Fairview to this day.
In 1994, blessed with continued growth, the church became
aware of the need to expand the present facilities and
initiated a Building Fund Campaign. An additional 1.5 acres
of land was purchased east of the existing property. Groundbreaking
ceremonies for the new facility were held Easter Sunday,
1996, and construction of the new building began in October
of that year.
 On Sunday, May 4, 1997, Reverend James E. McJunkin, Sr.,
was called from labor to reward. In the midst of a building
project, the church body lost their first and, at the time,
only pastor. Pastor McJunkin served the Affinity Family
faithfully for 31 years, leading Affinity from a gathering
of persons meeting in a private home to a congregation
of over 500 persons in 1997, the congregation elected Reverend
Wesley Toles as Acting Pastor. On January 25, 1998, the
cornerstone of the new edifice was laid and the new structure
was dedicated on February 15 of that year.
On October 27, 1998, the Church Body extended a call to
Reverend Ronald E. Maxwell to serve as pastor. Pastor Maxwell
accepted the call and preached his first sermon on December
31, 1999, during Watch Night Service. He was installed
as the Pastor of Affinity on Sunday, April 18, 1999.
Under Pastor Maxwell's leadership, the old sanctuary
and Horton Hall were renovated. We currently have four
classrooms and a Junior Church Sanctuary on the upper level,
and an expanded fellowship hall on the lower level.
 Pastor Maxwell has worked hard to help continue the vision
that we started with our founding pastor. He has done this
through Stewardship Emphasis Training, Officers Training
Sessions and Small Group Ministries. Through his leadership,
our worship services have been expanded to include service
for our teens and young children. Our membership has
grown to over 900.
Through missions, in 2002, Pastor Maxwell
traveled to the Kinama Baptist Church in Burundi, Africa.
After traveling to Burundi, Pastor Maxwell worked to further
develop not only our relationship with this Church, but
to work to get the other 36 churches in CBA to have a one-on-one
relationship with the 36 churches in Burundi. Through his
vision, we have evolved our community to a global level.
Over the past four years, we have joined with the Kinama
Baptist Church in a Sister Church Relationship. A total
of two teams have gone to Burundi. The current teams left
on October 12, 2006 while our pastor was in Guiana, South
America, where he was part of a group of pastors within
the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention.
These highlights of the past forty years only serve to
show that Affinity has been blessed by God. As we go forward
toward the next forty years, let us remember what our mission
statement says:
We are the body of Christ, called to proclaim the
Good News that Jesus is the Christ – loving God
through Worship, Fellowship, and Stewardship, sharing
God's love through Discipleship, Ministry and Missions.
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