Top officials at the North American Mission Board (NAMB) announced a cut-back in social ministries Aug. 29 in an effort to enhance the evangelism staff.
The cuts eliminate three national missionary positions and five staff positions. John Yarbrough, NAMB’s vice president of evangelization, said the changes reflect a “commitment to keep our structure and resources in line with our strategies.” The change also includes the addition of positions to NAMB’s evangelism team. Three new national missionary positions were added along with two new staff position.
Marty King, director of convention relations for NAMB, said: “We are not static and we are not done changing. We will continue to be more effective and more efficient.”
“It is a bureaucracy that says this is the way we do things,” King noted.
Surprise announcement
The changes caught participants, including ministry team heads, by surprise. An Aug. 23 letter announced the positions were being eliminated effective Aug. 31. Since the Aug. 23 letter one exception was negotiated with NAMB leadership. Originally, national literacy missionary Kendale Moore’s position was to be eliminated. But national literacy missionary Gayle Leinninger announced her retirement effective Dec. 15, 2001, making it possible for Moore to stay on board.
Three of the other employees serving in the deleted positions have transferred or will transfer to other NAMB positions and one has been dismissed and given a severance package, Yarbrough said.
The positions eliminated include:
- One national literacy missionary;
- One national interfaith missionary;
- Immigration ministries specialist position;
- A position in special ministries;
- A position in multicultural evangelism.
Domestic hunger funds and migrant ministries emphasis also felt the impact as immigration and refugee ministries were assigned to that position.
Alabama convention officials lament the negative impact that will result from this decision.
“I am very disappointed in the reduction of the emphasis in both literacy and immigration resettlement,” said Richard Alford, associate in the associational/cooperative missions office at the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. “Both of these are significant needs in the state and across the nation.”
Alford, who heads up literacy work among Alabama Baptists, said “This reduces NAMB’s ability to serve the churches, the associations and the state conventions. This will severely affect us.”
Noting the increased number of immigrants in Alabama and across the nation, Alford said, “There are already more Hispanic children than African-American in the nation and Asians are right behind them.
“There is a great need to reach out, minister to and help them,” Alford said. “But at the same time we are saying nationally that we are reducing our forces,” he added. “In the area of literacy, illiteracy is not a decreasing problem in the nation and certainly not in the state.
“This reduces the national agency’s ability to serve its people,” he said. “These are critical issues.”
Leininger agreed the changes will impact literacy missions. “Obviously it is unfortunate for literacy missions,” she said. “It is a setback.
“Kendale Moore will obviously not be able to field service as many as if we had two,” she explained. “His budget and time will only go so far. He will have to choose priorities.”
Boyd Campbell, an immigration lawyer in Montgomery, said “I look at it in baseball terms—(Alabama literacy leaders) hit a single and reached first base. As we were headed to second base we were cut off at the knees by the shortstop.
“I’m not being critical of the leadership of NAMB,” said Campbell, a member of First Baptist Church, Montgomery. “I’m encouraging the leadership to carefully consider the cuts they have made. They may be sending the wrong signal to missions directors in state conventions throughout North America.
“The people are there and need the ministry,” he said, noting resources to develop Hispanic ministries have been requested from across the state.
One of Campbell’s top concerns is NAMB’s previous role in locating and bringing in Hispanic pastors from outside the United States. These pastors fill a great need in our state right now, Campbell said.
But with the changes, one person will now do the work of two and will no longer be able to intervene before the immigration and Naturalization Service of the Justice Department.
Also changing will be case consultation, according to Jerry Pipes, director of the ministry evangelism team at NAMB. Case consultation for both immigration and refugees will be referred to experts in the area from which the call originates.
Concern over process
Alford and others noted concern about the dissemination of information about the changes.
“(State convention and evangelism leaders) had a meeting in Atlanta in July and this information was not mentioned,” he said.
Word came to state convention personnel and NAMB trustees through a formal letter from Yarbrough outlining the new organizational structure. Notification was made after the Aug. 23 letter was sent to those whose positions were eliminated.
Yarbrough ultimately made the decision for the various ministry teams under his leadership, King said.
“This is a change in strategy,” King said. “It didn’t have anything to do with budget, but everything to do with strategy … the most effective way to do missions,” he said. “We have to be effective first and what flows out of that is efficiency.
“It does signal a change in priorities,” King confirmed. “Does it mean that with less attention they will have a lower priority? Probably true,” he said. “But it does not mean that they are not important.
“We are not abandoning anything … (the ministries) just don’t have the resources they once did,” King said.
NAMB trustees from Alabama agreed they had been assured by NAMB officials that no ministries will be abandoned.
Barry Holcomb, pastor of Bluff Springs Baptist Church, Ashford, said “What NAMB is doing is to develop more efficient ways to reach people for the Lord.
“NAMB has not dropped the ministries but has merged positions,” he said.
Still, Holcomb said, as a trustee he plans to be responsive to the concerns that have been raised about the changes. “I will investigate these further and will talk about policy and procedures that went into these decisions,” he said.
Trustees concerned
“If we find that needs aren’t being met then I will intervene … but I also want to be supportive of the board.”
Sammie Reid, pastor of Mt . Zion Baptist Church, Warrior, said he sees no negative impact from the changes. “We will have more people in the field where the work is actually taking place,” he said.
The three new national missionary positions will focus on: evangelism over the Internet; evangelism through welfare to work opportunities; and evangelism of women.
The two new staff positions include a support person and an employee in prayer evangelism.
Share with others: