In response to reduced giving during the current economic downturn, International Mission Board trustees approved suspending new appointments to the International Service Corps and Masters programs during their May 19-20 meeting in Denver.
International Mission Board trustees gather around IMB president Jerry Rankin and Southern Baptist Convention president Johnny Hunt, left and right center respectively, to pray for them as they lead Southern Baptists toward a recommitment to the Great Commission.The IMB also will reduce the number of new appointments to its career, apprentice and associate programs. New appointments will continue on a more selective basis, involving the most strategic assignments.
Southern Baptist Convention president Johnny Hunt, who spoke at the meeting, said, “It is not acceptable in my heart that we can have missionaries in the pipeline and need to tell them we can’t send them.
“I believe that the people of God will rise to the occasion,” said Hunt, pastor of the Atlanta-area First Baptist Church, Woodstock.
But Hunt also noted, “We will have a significant reduction (of missionary appointments) in 2010 … unless Southern Baptists respond.”
This comes after a year when Southern Baptists sent out 1,088 new missionaries in all categories combined through the IMB. This year, long-term appointments will be capped at 300. With 220 already appointed to date, only 80 more appointments will be made for the fiscal year.
In any given year, the IMB typically appoints 700 missionaries in all categories to replace attrition through end of term, retirement, resignation and other reasons. In 2008, 5,495 personnel were serving in the field, and 4,286 of these were long-term missionaries.
“Today, we have more candidates knocking on our door and downloading our applications than ever before,” said Paul Chitwood, IMB trustee chairman.
“Yet on this day when God has answered our prayers for workers for his harvest, lack of funding has forced us to temporarily suspend categories for service.”
A number of trustees had tears in their eyes as they approved the recommendations to suspend and reduce missionary sending.
The results for the 2008 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions still are being collected and will be released in a few weeks. However, early projections show that the offering is expected to fall short of the $150 million received in 2007. So far, from Oct. 31 through April 30, giving is nearly $8 million below the $121.5 million contributed through state conventions during the same time frame a year ago.
Investment losses, a slight downturn in Southern Baptist Cooperative Program giving and harsh economic conditions also have taken a toll on IMB funding. – BP