Record Growth Recorded Overseas

                                                                                                                                      Vol. VIII, No. 10, Nov./Dec. 1995

A former Muslim woman bravely risked her own life by being baptized. She became one of about five Christians among the one million members of her people group.

In Mali, 77 people were baptized in front of their entire village.

Singly or in groups, more than 302,000 people worldwide chose to be baptized in 1994 after being touched by Southern Baptist foreign mission work. It was the first time annual baptisms had ever topped 300,000 and marked a 15% increase over 1993's figure.

The Cooperative Services International arm of the Foreign Mission Board, which ministers quietly among the peoples of “World A” - the unevangelized world locked from "traditional" missions behind political, religious, and cultural barriers - reported 3,809 baptisms.

The total may seem small, but it represents a 500% increase over 1993 figures. And it includes the first known baptisms recorded in modern times among several people groups.

The Foreign Mission Board enjoyed a net increase of 123 missionaries, the highest in almost 20 years. For the first time in its history, the total number of missionaries topped the 4,000 mark. And the number of new career missionaries exceeded 250 for the first time in seven years.

1994 saw other increases as well:

# more than 13,000 Southern Baptists went overseas as short-term volunteers

# 290 two-year workers went overseas, a 5% increase over 1993

# missions work began in more than 370 new cities, compared with 58 new cities in 1993

# the number of new churches overseas affiliated with the FMB's missions work increased by more than 7%

# nearly 33,000 students, many of them median adults, were enrolled in theological education as they prepare to lead new Christians in their own countries.