IMB celebrates overseas advances, covers deficit from missionary surge

by Mark Kelly                                                                                                 Vol. XVI, No. 3, March 2003

International Mission Board trustees celebrated reports of dramatic advances overseas and allocated money to cover deficits caused by the rapid growth in missionary numbers that is outstripping financial contributions from the churches.

A total of 8,369 churches were organized in 2002, an increase of 42.5 percent over the previous year. The number of new outreach groups jumped to 9,862, an increase of 44.1 percent over 2001. And 369,069 new believers were enrolled in discipleship training, an increase of 40.8 percent over 2001. Those dramatic increases were bolstered by positive growth in every one of the other 10 categories the IMB uses to measure overseas progress, including 421,436 baptisms, an increase of 8.7 percent.

The trustees also were told that in 2002 IMB personnel engaged 138 new unreached people groups, representing a total of nearly 360 million people. A total of 22 major urban centers unreached by the gospel also were engaged for the first time. "We are thrilled to see God at work in such power," Willis said. "He is glorifying his name in all the world through missionaries who possess his passion for a lost world.”

Trustees appropriated $4.2 million in new funds to cover over-budget expenses in 2002 caused by record growth in the number of Southern Baptists coming forward for missionary service. Two years of record missionary appointments and lower resignation rates have forced the IMB to overspend budgeted amounts for missionary support, said David Steverson, IMB vice president for finance. In addition, poor returns on investment income have required the board to pull $50 million from operating reserves over the past two years. While Southern Baptists continue to give more each year to the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon international missions offering, incremental increases in giving have not kept up with the soaring growth of the missionary force.

In November, IMB President Jerry Rankin said that, for the first time, board leaders are having to consider restricting the flow of new missionaries to the field because Southern Baptist giving has not been growing as quickly as Southern Baptist going. The $113.7 million Southern Baptists gave to the Lottie Moon offering in 2001 was a new record but still fell short of the $120 million goal. The offering's basic goal in 2002 was $125 million, with a challenge goal of $10 million. Offering receipts would have to increase 18.7 percent ($21.3 million) to meet the need created by the surge of new missionaries. On top of that, the budget provides for a net increase of only 150 new missionaries in 2003, but IMB leaders expect that number to be 400 or more.

"With literally thousands of missionaries in the pipeline seeking appointment, it's our heart's desire to send just as many as God will allow us to send," Hatch said. "It is important that we understand the challenge we are facing today."

The appointment service brought the total number of Southern Baptist missionaries under appointment to 5,441.

The IMB saw a dramatic decrease in 2002 in the number of volunteers willing and able to serve in short-term overseas assignments, said Bill Cashion, director of the IMB's volunteer office. A number of factors, including the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., led to a 50 percent decrease in the number of high school students participating in overseas projects, Cashion said.

Even though the number of medical volunteers was up about 33 percent and collegiate volunteers were up 14 percent, the drop in high school participation helped plunged the total for 2002 to 26,767. Almost 34,000 Southern Baptists served overseas in short-term projects in 2001.

Trustees also responded to two motions referred from the St. Louis meeting that would have instructed the IMB to rescind policies requiring current missionaries to sign the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message. The board's response noted that Rankin's Baptist Faith and Message request was an administrative action, not a board policy. As a result, there is no policy to rescind. The trustee resolution also reaffirmed Rankin's request "in recognition of our doctrinal accountability to the Southern Baptist Convention."

Trustees also voted to accept the resignations of 18 missionary units (36 people) and terminated four missionaries. None of the resignations cited the request to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message as a factor in the decision to resign. [BP]