This is the third in what has become a three-part series. Section one lightly sketches some reasons why IMB missionaries don’t frequent many churches, with the main thesis being churches no longer request missionaries as speakers. Part two is a more in-depth treatment of that initial thesis, pointing to trends and patterns which have led the SBC to this condition.
Today we’ll look over how to request an IMB missionary and what to do with them once they arrive. Do not expect a comprehensive listing; I imagine comments from current and former IMB workers will far outshine my own in terms of creativity and efficacy.
To request an IMB missionary for an event at your church, you may choose from the following standard options:
Fill out an official Speaker Request form.
Email speaker@imb.org.
Follow @IMB_SBC on Twitter and send them a message or tweet.
Call 1-800-999-3113 and ask for Mobilization
Feel free to follow more informal methods, like calling a Director of Missions, other pastors, associational offices, and perhaps even the national WMU. For today’s festivities, though, I’m going to focus on the official IMB Speaker Request form, and to that end I’ve attached some screenshots.
The first several questions should not challenge anyone. Note the contact person does not have to be the pastor; anyone can do coordinate this.
The self-explanatory questions continue. An event name can be something as simple as “Sunday morning service.” Also – do not feel pressured to choose a precise date and time without the possibility of alteration. Once you complete the request, someone will contact you and you’ll have ample opportunity to tweak dates and times.
Nearly as important as time and date, the event purpose helps the IMB and the missionary prepare for the event. Be creative, but try to be explicit as well. Is this about missions education? Involvement? Lottie Moon fundraising? Just a sermon? The only wrong answers are “No real purpose” and “We need fresh meat.”
The most interesting part of the above section is the WebEx offer. Sometimes, the organization just can’t find someone you need. Suppose you want a woman who speaks Russian to address a group of Russian students in Chicago, but all the Russian-speaking missionaries are unavailable to travel. The solution is to meet online, and the IMB will facilitate this. Missionaries will, in fact, wake up at 3:00 AM to meet with your church.
Questions 19 – 21 allow you to flesh out what you need from the missionary and to add any special requests.
Be explicit about services what you want from them. Here’s some ideas:
- Fill the pulpit for the week; please be explicit as to whether this is a preaching moment (sermon) or a share-about-your-work item. Remember, the missionary chooses events he can handle, and knowing what you need helps. One note: if you want someone to preach, then pastors don’t need to be around. I mean, feel free to take the week off and sit in the pew if you want, but you should also consider taking advantage of the opportunity to get away for the weekend. However, if this is your missions emphasis week, then please, pastor, stay. Show members that missions are important to you.
- Visit Sunday School classes – all of them.
- Eat-and-meet on a Saturday evening with the whole church informally, ending with a sharing about work/call to involvement. Or invite them to mingle from Sunday School through worship, church picnic and evening youth meetings.
- Teach theology of missions at a multi-church gathering over the weekend.
- Speak on missions and Lottie Moon Giving. Please remember many churches make this request. Get yours in early and avoid the late fall rush.
- Camp visitor who doesn’t teach much but instead acts as a missionary presence alongside preachers, youth ministers, and counselors.
- WMU speakers; feel free to request the specific type of woman you’d like: single, wife, mother, educated, from a specific state, etc.
- Men’s retreat speaker
- Missions breakfast on Saturday morning, lunch with the youth, supper with the deacons and Sunday School teachers. Make it personal and engaging.
Close out the process by adding miscellaneous information.
- Consider gender: Do you want women? Men? A married couple? Singles?
- Languages: Is your church one that uses something other than English? Include that information here: “Missionary must speak ________.” If you want someone who knows sign language, or Spanish, or Greek, just spell it out.
- Region: Some churches have a heart for a specific place in the world. Some have old partnerships, or immigrant church members. If you want someone from a specific country – again – spell it out. Try not to box organizers in too tightly (blind left-handed Guatemalan dentists without tonsils), but say what you need or want and work with the IMB to see how to meet that need.
- Most missionaries I know will sleep anywhere and eat anything; even so, if they are going to sleep on the couch and eat with your nine children, warn them
- And best of all, miscellaneous!
Some old-timers will weigh in here, I’m sure, with some great ideas. My point is that there’s more to offer than the pulpit; just write it down and see who comes. I’m not promising every request will be satisfied, but we’ve got folks ready to go; why not ask?
Oh – and thanks for all you do to support missionaries. It helps more than you could ever know.
We have an IMB missonary couple who are home on furlough for about four more months. They have served in several Muslim countries and are now missionaries in Central Asia. I will not reveal their names here but if you would like to have them in your church, you can call us at First Baptist Church in Eastman, Georgia (478) 374-5427 or email me at jerry@fbceastman.com. Eastman is in south central Georgia, about two hours south of Atlanta.
Thank you, Mr. Peele.
Super. I know you said it earlier but the form doesn’t mention an honorarium.
The organization leaves the topic of honorarium to the discretion of churches and organizers.
Seems to me that for SBCV to assist in making these connections between churches and mssys provides a genuine service to SBC churches. Very helpful in my view for pastors to do what Jerry Peele did here, spell out an available couple in his area and provide indirect contact information.
Thank you for this information. Our state has a partnership with people that have come out of our state and serve with the IMB and with other sending agencies but it is still a very limited pool of missionaries that are available. This service seems great to find others that can come encourage our congregation.
If you use the form, you can ask for someone from your state. They will place that criterion in the request for missionaries.
Great info Ethan.
Seems like years ago you could get a list of stateside missionaries in your area, or your state. It listed contact information and where the missionary served. You could get the list from the state convention, local Baptist Association, or from a pastor friend.
We would select one that was close, and perhaps because they served in an area we were especially interested in. We called the missionary directly, set up a time, usually for them to have the entire Sunday night Worship Service. We advertised in our church bulletin, announcements, the local newspaper. There seemed to be no concern about safety.
Now, I seldom see or hear of any such lists. Perhaps partly or mainly because of security concerns?
David R. Brumbelow
Security is certainly a major part of the reason. There was a time when security just meant “don’t tell anyone I’m a missionary in China.” With the rise of the internet, any digitally archived list is a potential hit list, and for a multitude of reasons: financial (kidnapping for ransom), political (See Andrew Brunson’s case in Turkey), ideological (ISIS), personal, etc. The world has become more unfriendly, and people are more bold and aggressive in seeking to damage those who work for the organization.
However, I wonder if the rise of the non-pastoral missionary applicant plays a part here. I did not come from the pulpit to the field. I lack a connection to local associations and conventions. It never occurred to me to visit associational offices as a result. Not one association or state convention knew I was in the area. A few churches knew, and that was it.
These days I doubt most associations would bother keeping a list; missions has been delegated to the IMB, don’t you know. Ask them for the list.
I’ll bet Mark Terry could toss some more factors out there.
I’m not Mark Terry but I suppose each association and state convention are different. Several of the DOMs in our area are former missionaries and keep up with who is furloughing (state siding) in their area. In our state our state WMU director is a former missionary and knows almost every missionary and former missionary in our state. Of course we are not a big state. Ethan has the right idea. Go through the IMB request form process but also check out the association or state convention office.
If your state convention has a WMU office, they keep a list of retired and furloughing missionaries in their area. For example, when we lived in Memphis. we were on Tennessee’s list. The WMU main office has a list of missionary homes (furlough residences) provided by churches and a few associations. You can contact those churches, and they can put you in contact with the missionary staying with them. The missionary houses in big cities and those near seminaries are always occupied.