My wife and I were appointed as missionaries by the Foreign Mission Board (now IMB) in April of 1975. If you do the math, you’ll see we’ve been associated with the IMB for 50 years. When we married in 1971, we wrote the FMB to tell them we were called to missionary service. The Personnel Department wrote back and said, “Wonderful, go to seminary.” So, off to Southwestern Baptist Seminary we went. In those years, 55 percent of the FMB’s appointees had studied at SWBTS. We were appointed by the FMB in April of 1975, and I graduated from seminary in May. (I’ve often wondered what the FMB would have done if I had not graduated.)
We went to Missionary Orientation in the fall of 1975. It lasted 14 weeks in those days, and we departed for the Philippines in 1976. We served about 15 years in the Philippines, and then we resigned. I taught missions in the USA for sixteen years, and then we were reappointed as missionaries in 2004. Our new assignment placed us at a seminary in Southeast Asia. We served there until we retired in 2014. In all we served 24 years and 11 months with the IMB. We did not realize we could have served one more month to reach 25 years. We were always assigned to teach at a seminary, but we did evangelism and church planting, also.
During our years in the USA, when I was teaching missions, primarily at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, we were constantly involved with the FMB/IMB. So, I’ve experienced the FMB/IMB on a personal basis for 50 years. What follows are my observations about how the Mission Board has changed over the last 50 years.
Open and Closed Countries
When we were appointed, all FMB missionaries served in open countries. These were countries that granted missionary visas, countries like Brazil, Korea, Nigeria, Kenya, and the Philippines. When we started language school in Davao City, Philippines, in 1976, the first thing we learned to say was “Misyonero ako,” which means “I am a missionary.” We lived in the Philippines on a missionary visa. In fact, in those years the FMB published the Missionary Directory. This was like a school annual of missionaries. It included photos of all the missionaries and told their country of service and their birthdate. The missionaries called it “The Book of Ages,” because no one could keep their age a secret. Beyond that, Open Windows and the WMU publications listed our names and country of service on our birthdays, so Southern Baptists could pray for us on our birthdays.
The situation today has completely changed. More that 75 percent of our missionaries serve in “closed” countries now. These countries do no grant missionary visas, and many of them persecute Christians and churches. The IMB does not publicize the missionaries’ names and birthdays. The missionaries strive to keep their missionary service a secret from government authorities.
Financial Changes
The International Mission Board receives most of its money from two sources: the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Foreign Missions. Fifty years ago, the FMB’s receipts were divided this way: 45% from the Cooperative Program, 45% from the Lottie Moon Offering, and 10% from special gifts. The percentages have changed now to 30% from the Cooperative Program, 65% from the Lottie Moon Offering, and 5% from special gifts. SBC Voices has published several posts on the decline of the Cooperative Program, and this fact is another indicator of that decline.
Communication
When were young missionaries in the southern Philippines, our mission office in Manila communicated with us by telegram. We did not have a telephone at our house. If we wanted to call the USA, we had to reserve a call cubicle at the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company office. They charged a lot to make a long distance or international call. It took three or four weeks for a letter to reach us. Mainly, we communicated with our families and friends by sending aerogrammes. This was a one-page sheet of blue paper that had a place for the address on the back side. You wrote you message on one side and then folded up the aerogramme to send. Aerogrammes arrived in about two weeks. My copy of the Arkansas Baptist newspaper took six months to arrive. Christmas gifts to us had to be mailed six months in advance. Today, missionaries have cell phones and internet service. They can stay in constant communication with their families, friends, supporters, and supervisors. Even in remote areas, satellite phones keep the missionaries in touch.
Counseling/Member Care
Fifty years ago, the FMB had only one counselor available to missionaries—Truman Smith, at the FMB’s office in Richmond. If a missionary needed counseling, Truman would arrange it. Most of the old-time missionary men held a Master of Divinity degree and had served as a pastor. So, to a great extent, we cared for each other. Now, the IMB has teams of Member Care personnel around the world. They provide counseling to missionaries and their families. This is good for two reasons. Lots of young adults come to missionary service with emotional baggage from a broken or troubled home. Beyond that, fewer missionaries today have had pastoral experience.
Organizational Culture
Corporations and organizations each have a distinct culture. When we entered missionary service in 1975, the FMB definitely had a family culture. On the day the FMB trustees interviewed us before voting on our appointment, Mrs. Eloise Cauthen, the wife of Baker James Cauthen, the President of the FMB, came and sat with us while we waited to be called in. She told us stories about her upbringing as an MK (missionary kid) in China. In the Philippines, we often spoke about our “mission family.” The MKs called the adult missionaries “uncle” and “aunt.” The other missionaries truly did become our family. Contrast that to when we returned to missionary service after about 16 years in the USA. When we arrived at our new assignment in SE Asia in 2005, we learned (to our dismay) that the IMB missionaries in our city had not met together for 18 months. We organized social events and got them together regularly. Still, about 25 years ago, the IMB moved from a family culture to a corporate culture, and I thought that was a tragedy.
Furlough/Stateside Assignment Speaking
In the days of yore, missionaries served four years on the field, and then they returned to the USA for a one-year furlough. This year was for reunion with family and friends, reporting to the churches, rest, refit of clothing, supplies, and equipment, and training. I used two furloughs to study for my PhD in missions at SWBTS. The FMB required us to speak at world missions conferences, camps, churches, and WMU meetings. About six months before our first furlough (now called stateside assignment), we received a list of speaking opportunities from the Furlough Ministries Office at the FMB. The list was 22 pages long, double-sided, and two columns on each page. For sure, we stayed busy, speaking in churches about our mission work in the Philippines. I lugged around my Kodak slide projector and reported as best I could. When we came home for stateside assignment in 2013, the list of churches and associations and organizations asking for a missionary speaker was two pages long, one-sided, with only one column. I was amazed and discouraged at the contrast between 1980 and 2013.
Conclusion
I know lots of retired missionaries read voices. What are your observations about the changes in the FMB/IMB over the past 50 years?
