Southern Baptists learn about missions from an early age. Recently, Alabama Baptists witnessed more than 150 international and North American missionaries be commissioned into service at two Birmingham appointment celebrations (see story about the North American service, page 1).
Many attending the missionary commissioning services committed to pray and to give to missions.
But how is missionary defined by the two Southern Baptist mission boards? Do all missionaries receive the same kind of support?
According to Randy Wood, director of missionary personnel for the North American Mission Board (NAMB), 5,154 people are currently under appointment as NAMB missionaries. However, only 108 of these are fully funded by NAMB alone.
Known as national missionaries, those 108 missionaries have nationwide responsibilities and most serve as church planters, he explained. “The national missionaries assist us in strategizing for different people groups across North America,” Wood said. While serving in a particular area, the national missionary also “becomes the expert in the area” in which he or she is working and helps plan the direction for that particular missions work. There are currently no NAMB national missionaries serving in Alabama.
The International Mission Board (IMB) goes a different direction with its funding of missionaries. All 5,153 IMB-appointed missionaries currently serving receive full funding from the IMB.
While two-thirds of NAMB missionaries are considered fully funded, the vast majority of those are funded through partnerships with state conventions. For example, Alabama has 29 appointed NAMB missionaries and 18 approved NAMB missionaries, all of whom are jointly funded with other groups.
Sammy Campbell, executive director and community development planner for M-Power Ministries Inc. in Birmingham, is an appointed missionary serving in Alabama. Campbell is jointly funded by Dawson Memorial Baptist Church in Homewood, Birmingham Baptist Association, the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM) and NAMB. Dawson provides the most significant portion of his funding.
Campbell said the partnership with the other groups allows him a multitude of resources he would not have if he were only funded by one group. “It is a great partnership,” he said. “We are cultivating the local folk. We are empowering them to do the work. This is a true model that really allows us to put the power in the churches.”
Eight members of the SBOM staff receive funding from NAMB and are counted as NAMB missionaries. Some receive about half of their salaries from NAMB while others receive a smaller percentage of funding for their positions from the national mission board.
Rick Lance, executive director of the SBOM, said, “The level of support is not to exceed 48 percent, which means the State Board of Missions is the primary contributor to these priority areas of work.”
NAMB also counts Mission Service Corps (MSC) volunteers among its missionaries. About 1,700 people serve in this position, which is self-funded. MSCers are expected to work at least 20 hours a week and for at least two years.
Currently, 73 MSCers serve in Alabama. Ray and Joanne Clark of DeKalb Baptist Association (see story, page 4) are examples of Alabamians serving in the MSC position.
Ron Madison, director of the SBOM office of associational and cooperative missions, serves as the liaison between the SBOM and NAMB.
“It is the DNA of Southern Baptists to work cooperatively,” he said. “The foundational principle of the Cooperative Program is that we can accomplish more together than separately.”
Madison, who works alongside Lance in prioritizing missions and church planting efforts in Alabama, said he and others work to prioritize the needs in the state.
“We try to make sure evangelism, church planting and community ministries are all represented in the priorities, so it is balanced,” he noted.
As Alabama Baptists determine their strategy and relate to NAMB, NAMB officials determine which strategies overlap, Madison explained. In those cases, NAMB considers partial funding.
(Whenever NAMB puts money in a position, that person is considered a NAMB missionary.)
SBOM officials will find out March 12 which Alabama Baptist priorities for 2003 will gain funding from NAMB, Madison said. Submissions for 2004 will be given to NAMB this September, he noted.
Alabama Baptists relate to IMB in a much different manner. While many go through IMB for volunteer missions trips, funding does not come into the state for ministries.
At the same time all IMB missionaries are fully funded by IMB, said Gary Stevens, IMB group leader for financial support, noting the amount given to each missionary depends on his or her classification.
Currently, 3,367 IMB missionaries are considered career, 386 are associates, 78 are apprentices, 467 are Journeymen, 561 are considered International Service Corps (ISC) and 294 are in the masters program.
“We no longer encourage people to provide their own support in any of the categories,” Stevens said. “We feel like the support level we provide is adequate, so they typically would not need to use their own savings,” he said.
Long-term missionaries (three years and above) include career, associate and apprentice, and short-term missionaries (four months to three years) include ISC, Journeymen and masters.
The career missionary is one who “fills a lifetime call to missions,” said Randy Rains, IMB associate vice president for the office of mission personnel.
Stevens added that career missionaries receive a base salary, a field parity supplement (to adjust the cost of living for each missionary), a housing allowance and a vehicle. “There is more comprehensive support for the career missionary,” Stevens said, “because we look at what they would need over a lifetime of service.” Single career missionaries receive about 60 percent of what couples and families receive.
The apprentice salary is about 80 percent of the career missionary support with the same situation (single, married, children).
All of these positions receive housing, a vehicle and medical coverage, Stevens said. The IMB is self-insured, he noted.
Journeymen commit to a two-year assignment and are funded 55 percent of a single career missionary’s salary, Rains explained.
A couple serving in the ISC position would receive 90 percent of the salary of a single career missionary. A single ISCer would receive 55 percent of the same salary.
The newest program, the masters, is a two- to three-year commitment for ages 50 and above. Couples receive 90 percent of the salary of a single career missionary and singles receive 55 percent.
Both IMB and NAMB rely on Cooperative Program (CP) gifts and special offerings to support their missionaries.
“We rely on the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for funding,” Stevens said. “We also budget for some investment income,” he explained. “It all comes from the annual budget.
“About half of national CP giving comes to the IMB and right now the CP for 2002 will provide about 35 percent of our operating budget,” Stevens said. “One hundred percent of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is used for the missions field budget. None of it is used for stateside administration. It helps with missionary salaries, which includes missionaries on stateside assignment and other field needs,” he said.
NAMB’s annual budget — which comes from the CP, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering (AAEO) and a few private donations — works the same way as IMB’s budget to provide missionary support, according to NAMB officials. NAMB receives 22.74 percent of Southern Baptist CP giving. And 100 percent of the AAEO goes to the missions field.
One hundred and thirty-seven Alabamians are currently serving in other states through NAMB (23 appointed, 41 approved, 73 MSCers). Alabamians serving with the International Mission Board (IMB) numbered more than 150 in December 2001.
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