Several years ago I pastored a small church in East Texas. Our annual budget was slim, and we barely scraped enough together each week to pay the light bill. A stout conviction of our fellowship, however, was giving to missions. We designated 10% of our annual budget to it. The experience was difficult, one that made me wonder if our tiny church with our even tinier budget really made a scratch on the proverbial surface of the lost world.
One summer I found myself in Nazareth Village in Israel. I was on a tour of the country alongside several other pastors. While walking into a bookstore, one of the older pastors called me over and introduced me to an IMB missionary. I’ll never forget how he did it: “Jared,” he said, “come meet one of your missionaries.” For the first time in my tenure as a Southern Baptist (SB) pastor, I genuinely felt connected to missions. I realized that my giving touched real people, even if I felt like a widow giving her final mite.
This illustrates the beauty of the Cooperative Program (CP), but it also showcases a glaring weakness. While it’s true that every active CP church can say that they support international missionaries, it’s also true that, sometimes, said missionaries are nameless numbers (as are the lost people they serve).
The CP, I started to realize, is more than just sharing money to support missions. It’s about sharing money to support missionaries. That is, the CP is about supporting living, breathing people who share the gospel with dying, breathing people.
Recently David Platt announced he is downsizing our international mission brigade by 600-800 people. This means that we are losing 600-800 living, breathing people whose lives impact countless dying, breathing people. This is disconcerting news. I recently concluded my first SB Executive Committee (EC) meeting. As you would imagine, this issue beleaguered the gathering. One major concern is how Platt’s reset will impact CP giving, particularly Lottie Moon (LM). This, however, is just the problem. That this concern is framed by the potential impact it can make on an offering is why the IMB is in its current predicament. The IMB isn’t an offering, nor is it money. It’s not a budget item nor is it, really, an entity of the SBC. It’s people. Living, breathing people. It’s people with passions and aspirations and hopes and dreams and convictions and families and lives. But most importantly it’s saved people reaching lost people with the gospel.
That some are considering not giving to (or considering giving less to) the 2015 LM is, to be candid, heinous. It’s judicious to be concerned about the impact the reset can make on the offering, but this concern should segue to the real problem—lost people. When we express more concern over an offering rather than the lives the offering touches, we’ve, well, plumb lost touch. The Cooperative Program becomes just that—a program. We forget who and what we are as Southern Baptists, because we think of missions as a cog of the church’s machine rather than the church as a cog in the machine of missions.
This is all to say that, with all of our finger pointing, we ought to look at the four fingers pointing back at us. The present issue is not an IMB issue. It’s an “us” issue. The IMB has, year after year (and with less than sufficient resources) continued to keep and send missionaries, but the IMB can only operate within the confines of the financial assets it receives, and the average church isn’t providing the necessary assets to keep these missionaries on the field, not to mention send more out.
This is why the IMB needs the church’s support now more than ever. It would be a categorical atrocity if this year’s LM dipped a cent lower than the $153,002,394.13 it received in 2014. Not only this, but it should be the largest ingathering in history.
SB pastors ought to teach their people that the CP isn’t just a line item in the budget, but a cooperation of believers to support other believers to create more believers.
Pastors also ought to begin thinking about how they can increase their annual CP giving. “Annual” is the key word. The IMB needs consistent gifts to keep missionaries on the field. Instead of thinking about the 5-10% that we give to the CP, let’s be convicted of the 90-95% that we retain.
Finally, pastors ought to begin preparing their people for Lottie Moon now by asking how we can strategically and creatively raise more money. What kind of event can we host? What corner can we cut? What face can we place beside the number?
More than ever, this is the time to come together as Southern Baptists. Let’s turn the Cooperative Program into a Cooperative Initiative. Let’s remember that our churches exist because of the Great Commission, and not the other way around. Let’s remember that there are faces behind the numbers.
If I were to disagree in any way, it is the limit of scope. We are not just about International Missions that we put International Missions front and center. It is an affirmation of the deep sense of American Exceptionalism that has created a tremendous blessing of material wealth.
We struggle with budgets because it’s wrasslin’ with God (not Satan) to find our place in his economy. It’s a GOOD struggle that should lead us to eyes being open. They are YOUR missionaries. And our thankfulness for their work is best expressed by participation in this grand calling with them. It is an act of love to them, to the unreached, to our local congregations, and to the Bridegroom Himself to care for and seek to gather the Bride. Especially in these “last days” while he is completing his preparation to return.
I am saddened that your East Texas church never had a living, breathing missionary come speak at, share with, love on, or be encouraged by your church. Sadly, I have seen a huge disconnect between imb missionaries & ‘local’ congregations. Our family spoke at over 30 churches in our first 20 week furlough & continue to do so each furlough in addition to adding other congregations. Unfortunately, we seem to be the exception. We were told by co-workers on the field to ‘take it easy on furlough’, ‘you’ve earned your salary’, ‘find a mission house & settle in’. Missionaries who have to raise their own support seem to take this responsibility much more seriously. I think they are blessed with the connections they make with those congregations far beyond just the monetary gifts. We certainly have been! I can only speak from our experience & am willing to say it is limited (8yrs now). I do think there is a direct link between churches giving & missionaries showing up (& not just via imb video promos) and connecting. Thank you.
just one missionary : I am really excited to hear what you are saying. Thank you so much for your willingness to mobilize others, even though you are on stateside and as other say you should be “resting”. As a missions pastor I see how important it is to connect with the church in order to bring SBC churches along . It is no longer enough to claim denominational affiliation and expect churches to jump on board. I have had several SBC pastor friends start working with other para church mission agencies because that agency and their m’s were willing to come by their church, talk to them, meet with them and lead the SBC church to work on the field with their M’s. Para church M’s do it because they have to in order to raise the money they need. The Para’s see that they must have church connections and relationships with the church or they come home. While I know that there are other SBC M’s with your attitude, I am afraid there is not enough. I hope that your view and attitude will spread among your fellow M’s.
Thank you for the truth. I understand that it is nice to relax, but the is no real connection between our Missionaries and churches unless we meet the Missionary. I hope that you do get that time to relax but even being in different area churches on Sunday to share a testimony, answer some questions can make a difference in the hearts of people. I hope the leadership of the IMB will see you response and think about putting area churches and Missionaries on home in that area together.
Unfortunately, I think the disconnect can sometimes run both ways. In our two stateside assignments with the IMB, we have spoken at numerous churches – ones that requested a missionary speaker! – where the church members and staff patted us on the back when we were done but weren’t interested enough in missionary work to sign up for prayer letters. It was not unusual for the pastor to ask us to keep it to 5 minutes and not have time to go out to lunch with us after the service. We were often scheduled to share at a prayer service in which all of the attendees were over 50. We have even been scheduled to speak at a time that conflicted with many other church activities, so that most of the younger church members were not available. Sometimes people just don’t seem interested — when we had to return to the US unexpectedly on what turned into our second STAS, I contacted about 15 local churches in the area we were staying to see if they would like us to share. No one took us up on the offer, and most didn’t even bother to return my call. Honestly, I think this lack of interest in missions that we have seen especially among younger people — or maybe just greater interest in other things? — has largely contributed to the IMB’s state today.
On the flip side, just a year or so into our first term, we were contacted by a tiny church in a very unchurched part of the US. They had never connected with a missionary and had found us by doing a web search. This church became some of our greatest supporters. They prayed for us weekly as a congregation and were thrilled when we were able to visit their church and share in person. They were so welcoming; it was without a doubt the most encouraging speaking engagement of our stateside assignment.
My closing thoughts would be — if you are a smaller church that would like to connect with a missionary, please don’t give up! Contact the IMB and ask to be put on the speaker request list. Or use other means: ask members of your congregation to ask friends or relatives who attend bigger churches or live in areas with a larger concentration of SBs, or just do a web search! We left the IMB within the last year due to events outside of our control, but I believe there are other m’s out there like us who would love to share and connect with you.
My wife and I can say “dittos” to your post. We loved being in the smaller churches that requested and or accepted our request to come and share a report of what the Lord has been doing in His work among the Deaf people in South America. We have an email list of more than 700 people who had requested to receive our monthy prayer/newsletter, but less than 50% of these people at least open, read and pray for the ministry God has given to us as THEIR SBC representatives to the Deaf world. We do praise the Lord, however, for those who have prayed for us and for the more than 300 professions of faith we have seen and more than 90 baptisms during our 9 years on the field.
Our real problem is that we might well be looking at the implosion of the largest missionary denomination in history, an implosion based on the fact that our people are unemployable (those who were trained in giving, etc.), rapidly becoming second or even third class, and, perhaps, becoming a criminalized group, if Gov. Huckabee is right (and I see no reason to think he is wrong). The plan to destroy this nation has been afoot for as long as the Republic has stood, and the propagators of it were working from the inside. Take away the political power of the Baptists and other evangelicals, and the USA will likely be transformed into something utterly unrecognizable or fall utterly. If I were to elaborate upon the factors that point to such implosion, you all would be distressed to say the least. And, lest any think I am anti SBC, let me say I believe the SBC has been the dominant force in missions for over a century, dating back even into the 1800s, a bright and shining light in spite of problems. However, I do tremble for the future of Baptists and for my children, grandchildren, etc., for my friends and neighbors and my fellow Americans. We are very likely facing the most challenging times in our history, perhaps, the worst. Even so I still pray for a Third Great Awakening, thinking that the darkest hour is just before the dawning.
Thank you Jared for such a well-timed word. May God wake is up before it’s too late. We’re so proud of you.
My heart also goes out to the 600 to 800 missionaries coming home who are in their 50s and now looking for a ministry and/or job to support their families. The church market has changed such that churches are increasingly seeking leaders in their 30s and 40s rather than experienced leaders in their 50s and beyond. It is a double loss…those people who would have been saved on the field of missions and the missionaries and families. Pray for their support.
Thank you for the article as well as for the comments. My family and I have served with the board for 12 or so years-we try and make the best use of both our “on the field” time as well as our stateside. We have been blessed to have the opportunity to speak with churches and meet with pastors. I took one out for coffee yesterday and another out for lunch today-I wish we could do more to say “thank you”. In my mind, we as ms do too little to express our gratitude-churches today yearn to be connected and we need to step up and connect. The pastor I ate lunch with today and his church decided not too long ago that they would take half of their reserve and give it to the IMB-my wife and I wept as we heard it. Their church is still relatively young-getting to know the churches and pastors who keep us there is probably more of a blessing to us as we are to them. Thank you all for what you do…we know m’s with parachurch groups who spend a day a week raising support-so thankful we are able to spend that time serving our people. I believe the SBC trains and supports many amazing Ms through the IMB. With Dr. Platt’s leadership, I hope and pray that even better days are ahead of us. Even if you’re disappointed or frustrated, continue to be gracious and pray that this ship will turned around.
Please pray with us for one of the key positions yet to be filled-VP of mobilization.
I love to hear/read what our SBC pastors think about their IMB missionaries. Before my wife and I became IMB “ms”, we were SBC members with big HEARTS for missions never knowing that we would one day be serving our Lord on the foreign mission field. We were commissioned in October 2006 while in our mid 50s and are now making ready to leave the field in our lower 60s. It is somewhat of a bittersweet experience for us because we had hoped to serve in our filed of service until the Lord’s return our until both of our demise. We loved reporting to our SBC families every time we came back to the states to tell them thank you for their prayers and financial support and to show them what their monies were busy doing in our part of the world of service. We hope that the leadership of IMB will someday institute a policy where each missionary unit is required to schedule and speak in at least 10 SBC prior to commencing their mission ministry and to at least 2 SBC churches every 30 days they are home for STAS/furlough. With GRATEFUL hearts we say “Thank You” to our SBC family for allowing us to serve and to represent you among the people group to whom God called us to labor for these past 9 years. IMB is so blessed to have a leader like Dr. Platt whom we believe is doing what is correct and needful for our mission agency “for such a time as this”. We believe it is God’s will for us to return to the states at this time knowing that this whole situation does not have our LORD pacing up and down the throne room of heaven worried about what HE is going to do. Our Lord is still on His throne and He is in total control fo this situation.
Thank you. 17 years.
We lead the Mobilizer Cluster for the Americas. We had people stationed all over the world as we all worked to help our Latino brothers and sisters – where ever they were –
reach the lost. Most of our people, like us, will be gone in November.
Wake-up call, yes, but not what everybody is saying.
The Great Commission is to make disciples. Enroll learners. Teach pupils. With around 30% of members even attending church on Sunday, we cannot possibly claim to be fulfilling the GC with the people GOD has sent through our doors, right here where we live.
No one but NO ONE is acknowledging that GOD is our source of supply, and He most definitely pays for what He wants done. No one seems to be asking why He doesn’t seem to want the IMB to continue as it has been,
Because they have have been/are Good and Faithful Servants–A Job Well Done. Now it’s time to go home from the Dispersion…..Home to America where you are needed More than ever before. Come Home and trust that GOD really does know what HE is doing.
There’s another reality. Wages are stagnant, people are out of work, and even people with work are struggling. I am worrying about paying my bills, etc. I have forgone medical needs of my own because of $$. An offering based on less income will be- well- less. (The SBC seems, from my perspective, to be absent from discussions of economic justice in America.) Thanks for allowing me to share.
It would be interesting to know if any personnel “lay offs” are happening within the SBC stateside.