The lack of sufficient funding to support missionaries may not be an economic problem but a problem of “hearts that aren’t aligned with the Lord’s passion” for the lost, said International Mission Board (IMB) President Jerry Rankin.
“We are grateful for the faithful giving of Southern Baptists,” Rankin told messengers during the board’s report in the Tuesday evening session of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting.
Still budget shortfalls will prevent 400 short-term missionaries who are completing their assignments this year from being replaced, he said.
Lack of funds also will restrict the placement of other missionaries, with the missionary force ultimately being shrunk by 700.
“This is at a time when thousands of candidates for overseas service are being called out of our churches … a time when global events are creating opportunities,” Rankin said.
The issue is not about the number of missionaries or support for the IMB budget, he explained — it’s about the “thousands of unreached people groups that are not hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Because of that, the IMB is going through “the most radical restructuring in its history” in order to better use resources and more effectively reach the lost, Rankin said.
The board made significant changes in 1997, but the world is not the same as it was even then, he said. “If we are going to be positioned for relevance … in the future, we cannot presume past methods will work. … We must boldly capitalize on the change around us.”
To position itself for global advance, the IMB is replacing its geographic organization with nine affinity groups aimed at reaching their people groups no matter where they are located in the world, Rankin said. This move consolidates administrative services, he explained.
The board is also maximizing its partnerships with national Baptists and other organizations instead of retaining “an exclusive strategy of sending missionaries,” Rankin said.
No entity can presume success in the past will translate into success in the future if business is done as usual, he explained. “Our world has changed, never to be the same again. We are trying to evangelize a postmodern society … and we live in a world that is increasingly hostile.”
Through the IMB’s work, Southern Baptists are “risking the danger” to engage unreached people groups in closed countries with the gospel, Rankin said.
With the stage darkened, several missionaries from high-risk areas gave anonymous testimonies about the work God is doing where they were appointed.
One young woman who works in a place 17 hours from the closest American said it’s “worth the risk” of disease and the agony of walking through a disaster area with dead bodies lying all around to see the gospel furthered.
A couple worked three years in a Muslim area and saw only one person come to know the Lord. When the wife began praying for 100 people to find salvation in Christ, she felt led to pray for 1,000 instead. Before they left in May, the couple had seen 1,600 come to faith in Jesus.
Through people like these, Southern Baptists can “penetrate these pockets of lostness,” Rankin said. “Multitudes have yet to hear the name of Jesus. … It’s not because they’re resistant; it’s because they’ve never had an opportunity to hear.”
Share with others: