Phoenix | The heads of the Southern Baptist Convention’s two mission sending agencies —the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board—each presented a report to messengers at the annual meeting in Phoenix.
The IMB is in a stable financial position, “setting the stage” to send more missionaries to share the Gospel, IMB President David Platt reported.
Platt thanked Southern Baptists for increased giving to the Cooperative Program and approximately $153 million given to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. He noted the IMB no longer uses property sales for operations and that the mission board’s reserves are funded at appropriate levels.
“In other words, the IMB is healthy financially, and what that means is, the stage is now set for Southern Baptists to stop decreasing and start increasing the number of missionaries we have serving around the world,” Platt reported to applause.
Hundreds of current missionaries sent Twitter-length reports* to share with messengers how they are seeing God at work around the world, with messengers hearing a number of them:
- They saw the first church ever started among a Muslim people in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- A woman learned at a Value of Life training in South Asia that abortion is not God’s will. In seeking forgiveness, she found salvation through Christ.
- In East Asia, they helped a believer plant a church over the last seven months in one of the hardest places in that part of the world. Ten people have now confessed Christ and 12 others have already been baptized.
- In North Africa, they trained up and sent out a small group of Muslim-background believers to a country hundreds of miles away. Those believers have now planted 20 churches with over 220 people baptized.
“This is the work of the IMB,” Platt said. “And this is happening every single day…. Disciples are being made, churches are being planted, pastors are being trained and missionaries are being sent from the nations to the nations… God is being glorified among people and entire people groups who until now had never heard the name of Jesus.
“This is the work of the IMB and, Southern Baptists, I want to call us to send limitless more missionaries to do that work all around the world.”
Ezell says planting is evangelism
Pledging “NAMB will do its part,” NAMB President Kevin Ezell said the SBC needs a “Gospel Conversation Resurgence” if declining baptism numbers are to turn around.
Ezell shared how Dan Coleman, church planting missionary in Augusta, Maine, has averaged 100 baptisms annually since his church was planted. La Chapelle, a church plant in Montreal, has baptized more than 450.
“Church planting is evangelism,” Ezell said. Citing an analysis of the SBC’s Annual Church Profile (ACP) from 2015, Ezell said church plants baptize a new believer for every 10 worship attendees.
In 2016, Ezell said Southern Baptists started 732 new churches in North America with 232 new affiliations for a total of 964 new congregations.
“Your missionaries are reaching people for Christ,” Ezell said. “More Gospel congregations will lead to more Gospel conversations.”
In several state conventions, churches started since 2010 account for more than 20% of all SBC churches. In the Penn-South Jersey, Minnesota-Wisconsin, and New York state conventions, 30% of all churches were started since 2010.
“Southern Baptist work is growing stronger and stronger in these areas because your churches sacrificially send the resources,” Ezell told SBC messengers.
“We exist to serve pastors and churches,” he said. “You are the missionary-sending centers. You are the church planting centers.”
– from Baptist Press reports