By Mark Kelly
The gospel began making inroads this past year among 131 people groups that previously had little or no access to it, trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board were told during a Nov. 16-17 meeting in Oklahoma City.
Trustees also heard a report of more than 600,000 overseas baptisms, adopted a $283.1 million budget for 2005 and made pledges of $88,396 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions.
IMB missionaries and their overseas Baptist partners engaged 163 people groups for the first time during 2003, said Gordon Fort, the board's vice president for overseas operations. Of those, 131 unreached groups-representing 152 million souls-had virtually no access to the gospel.
International Mission Board workers also reported that 607,132 believers were baptized, a net increase of 97,973 (19.2 percent). Last year the number of baptisms passed 500,000 for the first time.
The total number of congregations worldwide reached 99,495, a net increase of 15,480 (18.4 percent) over the previous year. That growth was fed by 21,028 new Baptist congregations, an increase of 4,428 (26.7 percent). Of those new churches, 16,891 were produced by church-planting movements among approximately 50 people groups.
In other categories of the annual report:
• Total outreach groups grew to 50,297, a net increase of 3,920 (8.5 percent) over the previous year. That increase was made possible by 9,216 new outreach groups, although that number was down 413 (4.3 percent) from the previous year;
• Overseas church membership climbed another 7.2 percent (498,886) to a total of 7,451,242;
• Bible teaching enrollment increased by 234,318 (6.3 percent) to 3,942,886;
• New believers in discipleship training reached 490,046, an increase of 66,760 (15.8 percent). More than 80 percent of the people baptized this past year were enrolled in discipleship training;
• Church members in discipleship training grew by 156,208 (17.7 percent) to 1,037,985;
• Non-residential leadership training enrollment jumped 29 percent (24,809) to 110,356;
• Residential leadership training recorded an increase of 909 (4.1 percent) to 22,959;
• International missionaries fielded by Baptist partners rose 22.6 percent (351) to a total of 1,901;
• Baptist partner home missionaries totaled 3,920, an increase of 1,595 (68.6 percent). The large increase in this category was partly the result of application of a new definition of “home missionary” during the collection of data.
“These numbers provide a snapshot of the amazing way God is moving lost people all over the world to faith in Jesus Christ,” Fort said.
Trustee chairman Tom Hatley of Rogers, Ark., challenged board members to adopt a “whatever it takes” attitude toward sending the number of missionaries needed to complete the Great Commission task.
After his election in May, Hatley asked the board's overseas leadership to estimate how many new missionaries would be required to take the gospel to the largest people groups that have yet to hear it. In a three-hour, closed-door dialogue Nov. 16, the board's 11 regional leaders delivered a preliminary report to trustees.
Southern Baptists need to increase dramatically the number of missionaries and funding for international missions-perhaps by as much as 60 percent, Hatley said.
“Working with our Great Commission Christian partners, we can reach all people groups numbering more than 100,000 with the gospel, and we can do it in years, not decades,” Hatley said. “God has provided the resources, the technology and the ability to travel. We are at a point of opportunity never before seen.”
Trustees adopted a 2005 budget of $283.1 million that represented an increase of $7.1 million over the total budget for 2004. The revenue plan anticipates receiving $99.6 million from the Cooperative Program giving channel and $150 million from the Lottie Moon Offering.
The spending plan allocates $243.8 million to overseas operations, an increase of more than $20.3 million (9.1 percent) over 2004. The $37.7 million allocated to stateside administration and promotion represents an increase of $2.2 million over 2004 but is a decrease as a percentage of the total budget (13.7 percent to 13.3 percent).
The overseas portion of the budget includes $47 million dedicated to fostering church-planting movements. The budget also includes $1.5 million for support of “global personnel,” a new category that covers missionaries temporarily assigned to stateside tasks.
As Southern Baptists prepare to give their 2004 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, the trustees set an example by making their personal pledges to the campaign.
With 69 of the 85 trustees reporting, the pledges totaled $88,396, an average of $1,281 per trustee. When all trustees have returned pledges, the total is expected to well surpass the $100,214 pledged in 2003.
Baptist Press
Mark Kelly writes for the IMB.