SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — God is moving in unprecedented ways around the world and Southern Baptists face the challenge of joining their missionaries in “whatever it takes” to make disciples of all peoples, International Mission Board (IMB) trustees were told during their Nov. 6–7 meeting in Springfield, Ill.
Eighty-two new missionaries were appointed to overseas service in a ceremony held in conjunction with the 100th annual meeting of the Illinois Baptist State Association. The work of current missionaries and their national Baptist partners on the missions field was also highlighted and celebrated during the trustee meeting.
The board’s annual statistical report offered an array of numbers detailing advances in overseas work during 2006:
- Baptisms topped 600,000 for the first time, and IMB workers planted 25,497 churches, raising the total worldwide to 157,890.
- Church-planting strategies were implemented with 1,134 people groups, including 100 groups newly engaged with the gospel.
- IMB workers engaged 67,413 new believers and 1.2 million church members in discipleship training.
- David Steverson, the board’s treasurer, also presented trustees with the 2008 IMB budget, which projects, among other things:
- a total budget of $304.8 million, an increase of $15.9 million (5.5 percent) over 2007.
- an $11 million increase (5.4 percent) in support of field personnel, providing for a net addition of 80 new missionaries.
- an additional $1.48 million to foster church-planting movements worldwide.
In other matters, the trustees also adopted a five-point statement of principles for contextualizing the gospel in other cultural settings. The statement affirms the use of “bridges” from elements of host cultures to communicate gospel truth and encourages missionary vigilance that unbiblical concepts in a culture do not compromise “the whole unvarnished truth of the gospel.”
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