Southern Baptist churches that are considering how they can plug in and partner with overseas missions may have more options than they thought possible.
As the International Mission Board’s focus has shifted away from country emphases to people groups in recent years, more options have become available and even small churches with limited financial resources can get involved.
The shift has revolutionized missions involvement for some churches that otherwise wouldn’t have thought a mission partnership was possible. Just ask James Vaughn, partnership director for the Nevada Baptist Convention.
In Nevada, there are a little more than 200 Southern Baptist churches, and most of them average fewer than 100 people, Vaughn said.
“Through focusing on people groups, every church can become involved in a people group, and you don’t necessarily have to go to be involved,” Vaughn said. “You can study the people group, and you can pray specifically for specific needs of the people group.”
But if the church really gets into it, somebody is going to want to go, he added.
One of Nevada’s growing Baptist associations sent out its first partnership team to the Pacific Rim region in 2003. With that partnership, congregations have worked directly with missionaries to reach a people group with little or no access to the gospel.
For Ken Rhodes, director of missions mobilization for the Mississippi Baptist Convention, the new paradigm also has improved Mississippi’s work with overseas missions.
Mississippi’s convention is actively networking with more than 300 churches specifically interested in mission partnerships around the world, or in “clustering” or teaming up with smaller churches.
Rhodes said he sees churches hungering for more opportunities to make a lasting impact around the world and develop relationships. “We really shy away from the word ‘trip’ or ‘project,'” he said. “Not just to go on a mission project or a mission trip, but … today’s world is about relationships.”
Every state, every church, every association not only has the opportunity to become involved in building relationships but also in becoming “strategically” involved, Terry Sharp, director of state and association services at the International Mission Board, said.
“Instead of 120 countries, we have thousands of people groups, which means you need thousands of partnerships,” Sharp said. “We’ve been moving to a more strategic relationship, where volunteer teams become part of the field strategy. Volunteers are actually meeting the needs of the missionary to help with starting a church-planting movement.”
The future of Southern Baptists becoming involved in missions is brighter than ever, Sharp said.
“It’s really exciting because the whole issue was to mobilize the churches and get them engaged in what God is doing around the world, so they could tell the good news,” he said. “So now we’re able to see that explode.”
To become involved in missions, contact the International Mission Board at (800) 999-3113.