Baptist News Global
Sections
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Curated
  • Storytelling
    • Faith & Justice >
      • Charleston: Metanoia with Bill Stanfield
      • Charlotte: QC Family Tree with Greg and Helms Jarrell
      • Little Rock: Judge Wendell Griffen
      • North Carolina: Conetoe
    • Welcoming the Stranger >
      • Lost Boys of Sudan: St. John’s Baptist Charlotte
      • Awakening to Immigrant Justice: Myers Park Baptist Church
      • Hospitality on the corner: Gaston Christian Center
    • Signature Ministries >
      • Jake Hall: Gospel Gothic, Music and Radio
    • Singing Our Faith >
      • Hymns for a Lifetime: Ken Wilson and Knollwood Baptist Church
      • Norfolk Street Choir
    • Resilient Rural America >
      • Alabama: Perry County
      • Texas: Hidalgo County
      • Arkansas Delta
      • Southeast Kentucky
  • More
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donate
    • Associated Baptist Press Foundation
    • Planned Giving
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Advertising
    • Ministry Jobs and More
    • Transitions
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions and Permissions
Donate Subscribe
Search Search this site
Featured
Featured

CBF adopts new model for funding field personnel

NewsJeff Brumley  |  June 27, 2016

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is embarking on a new course for national and international missions, one designed to broaden relationships between churches and field personnel and to boost the Fellowship’s global presence.

CBF members voted during its General Assembly in Greensboro, N.C., Friday morning to launch the Fellowship in a new direction, which seeks to sharpen missions focus and provide equity in the funding of field personnel and their ministries. The new model will go into effect in October 2017.

Under the new plan, which has been 18 months in the making, CBF will use its Offering for Global Missions to finance the salaries, living expenses and benefits of all its field personnel. The missionaries will be responsible for raising the money needed for their programs and ministries, mainly from family, friends and churches.

Previously, CBF used a two-tiered system that fully funded some field personnel while others had to raise all their own funds, including living and other personal expenses.

CBF officials presented the plan at a Thursday business session that included panel discussions and video presentations featuring current and former field personnel and Fellowship church and missions leaders. More information was presented in breakouts later in the day.

Several field personnel present at those gatherings expressed strong support for the new approach.

Scarlette Jasper

Scarlette Jasper

The previous missions approach created a lot of stress and uncertainty for missionaries who had to raise all their own support, said Scarlette Jasper, a self-funded missionary who serves in the Appalachian foothills of southern Kentucky.

Like many of the impoverished people she serves, Jasper said she often wondered month to month how she would make her house payment. She was never sure her ministry would survive very long.

The new model ensures she can maintain her presence and “will alleviate a lot of the stress,” she said.

“I will have to do my own programming and transportation, but that’s OK because I have security now and I know I will be there,” Jasper said.

Tammy Stocks

Tammy Stocks

Tammy Stocks, CBF field personnel serving in Bucharest, Romania, said it’s a struggle for field personnel to ask churches and individuals for donations to cover personal expenses, like Internet service.

“It’s easier to ask for money for hungry kids,” she said.

In presenting the plan, CBF officials emphasized that many congregations will have to get involved in missions giving and participation, or ramp up their existing commitments.

The Fellowship needs churches to “step up” their giving to the Offering for Global Missions, said Linda Jones, CBF missions coordinator.

They also are needed to work directly with missionaries in the field. The result will be a greater involvement by local churches in the global church, she said.

“Those relationships will be enhanced as field personnel raise their own money for programs,” she said. “Congregations will have a clearer vision of how to relate to field personnel.”

CBF Global Missions Coordinator Steven Porter said the new model was vetted over more than a year of conversations with field personnel, church leaders and other stakeholders.

In addition to the new way of financing missions, the approach will sharpen the Fellowship’s focus in the work it does around the world.

The Fellowship will engage three main areas: global poverty, global migration and the global church.

CBF will coordinate the efforts of field personnel, local churches, students, volunteers and other partners to address those core areas of work.

A hoped-for outgrowth of the new system will be “a reciprocal relationship from the field to the churches,” Porter said.

Joe Phelps

Joe Phelps

The new model is admittedly risky, said Joe Phelps, pastor of Highland Baptist Church in Louisville, one of the panel participants.

But so are the other causes CBF champions, including combating payday lending and supporting religious liberty. Phelps added that Jesus was a risk taker who should be emulated.

And those risks are worthwhile because they will transform the churches that go all in, said Chris Ellis, the minister of mission and outreach at Second Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark.

Congregations will be transformed by their financial and ministry involvement with field personnel, whose challenges and achievements will be intertwined, he said.

CBF missions “will shrink the world” as “churches get involved in what really matters” globally and then are able to apply what they have learned in their own communities, Ellis said.

During a breakout session on Thursday, Porter said no existing field personnel will be “terminated” as a result of the new model. However, some may see changes in their titles and relationship to CBF if they already work for other nonprofit organizations or ministries.

Neither he nor other CBF officials in the breakout would publicly estimate how much the new plan will cost, or how much field personnel will receive for salaries and benefits. They did say that field personnel salaries are roughly comparable to those earned by mid-level church staff members.

They noted that the packages will vary per person because some live and work in parts of the country and the world where the cost of living is very high.

Currently there are 102 field personnel. About 55 percent of them are funded by the Offering for Global Missions, and the others are self-supporting.

When the new model begins next year, all field personnel will be required to raise $12,000 for a reserve fund for use in emergencies or when, say, a transmission or computer must be replaced, Porter said.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
Tags:Cooperative Baptist FellowshipJoe PhelpsCBFmissionarySteven PorterCBF Field PersonnelOffering for Global MissionsGreensboro NCScarlette JasperLinda JonesTammy StocksChris Ellis
More by
Jeff Brumley
Read Next:

America engaged in ‘battle of worldviews,’ Mike Johnson tells Christian lawmakers group

NewsSteve Rabey and Mark Wingfield

More Articles

  • All
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Curated
  • What you’re really giving to when you respond to a ‘Bible shortage’ in prisons

    AnalysisKristen Thomason

  • The breasts of Advent

    OpinionJulia Goldie Day

  • Every December, some South African churches convert to beer halls

    NewsNyasha Bhobo

  • Would it make Jesus puke?

    OpinionBrett Younger

  • Despite a Supreme Court judgment stopping Britain’s migration deal with Rwanda, Sunak administration presses on

    NewsAnthony Akaeze

  • Are we still calling him the ‘Good’ Samaritan?

    OpinionRussell Waldrop

  • SBC agency wants to make sure migrant children who are pregnant can’t get abortions

    NewsMark Wingfield

  • How you connect apocalypse to Advent affects how you interact with the news

    AnalysisRick Pidcock

  • Virginia church fulfills the Great Commission and the Great Commandment by building a playground

    NewsJeff Brumley

  • How Let Us Prey highlights the struggles of former IFB who leave the church

    AnalysisLydia Joy Launderville

  • Skipping verses: When the Christmas Kranks read Scripture, at Advent and otherwise

    OpinionBrad Bull

  • Florida’s Latino community prefers Biden over DeSantis but Trump over Biden

    NewsJeff Brumley

  • One man held up military promotions for 10 months, and now he has relented with nothing to show for his effort

    NewsSteve Rabey

  • It is not antisemitic to oppose the nation of Israel’s atrocities

    OpinionMark Wingfield

  • Here’s why Americans are so obsessed with getting ‘tough on crime’

    AnalysisRodney Kennedy

  • America engaged in ‘battle of worldviews,’ Mike Johnson tells Christian lawmakers group

    NewsSteve Rabey and Mark Wingfield

  • Looking beyond ‘fact or fable’ alternatives in the Christmas stories of Matthew and Luke

    OpinionRobert P. Sellers

  • Letter to the Editor: A rebuttal on ‘useful idiots’

    OpinionJonathan Kuttab

  • I grew up in the church-cult from Let Us Prey; here’s why abuse runs rampant in the IFB

    AnalysisShannon Makujina

  • Charles G. Adams, former BJC chair and legendary Detroit pastor

    NewsMark Wingfield

  • First Baptist Abilene dedicates $10 million community ministry center

    NewsJeff Brumley

  • Letter to the Editor: I was there when CBF was created, and I disagree with BNG analysis

    OpinionBill Bruster

  • Stop doing business with China, religious freedom watchdog group urges

    NewsJeff Brumley

  • The Toxic Evangelical Variant

    OpinionMartin Thielen

  • SBC Executive Committee files amicus brief supporting NAMB against Will McRaney

    AnalysisMark Wingfield

  • Every December, some South African churches convert to beer halls

    NewsNyasha Bhobo

  • Despite a Supreme Court judgment stopping Britain’s migration deal with Rwanda, Sunak administration presses on

    NewsAnthony Akaeze

  • SBC agency wants to make sure migrant children who are pregnant can’t get abortions

    NewsMark Wingfield

  • Virginia church fulfills the Great Commission and the Great Commandment by building a playground

    NewsJeff Brumley

  • Florida’s Latino community prefers Biden over DeSantis but Trump over Biden

    NewsJeff Brumley

  • One man held up military promotions for 10 months, and now he has relented with nothing to show for his effort

    NewsSteve Rabey

  • America engaged in ‘battle of worldviews,’ Mike Johnson tells Christian lawmakers group

    NewsSteve Rabey and Mark Wingfield

  • Charles G. Adams, former BJC chair and legendary Detroit pastor

    NewsMark Wingfield

  • First Baptist Abilene dedicates $10 million community ministry center

    NewsJeff Brumley

  • Stop doing business with China, religious freedom watchdog group urges

    NewsJeff Brumley

  • ACE American Insurance Co. denies allegations in Kanakuk’s recent cross claim

    NewsMallory Challis

  • New study finds Americans agree on issues facing their families but differ greatly on marriage and family in general

    NewsJeff Brumley

  • Interfaith leaders influenced MLK’s Christian outlook, biographer says

    NewsJeff Brumley

  • National leader of Chi Alpha resigns as sex abuse scandal looms

    NewsMark Wingfield

  • Ministry jobs and more

    NewsBarbara Francis

  • Alabama Supreme Court declines to stop Samford from taking house of former fraternity

    NewsMark Wingfield

  • New speaker of the House releases select January 6 footage to allow Christians and conservatives to change the narrative

    NewsSteve Rabey

  • Journalist’s book explores ‘crack-up of the American evangelical church’

    NewsSteve Rabey

  • In Botswana, a booming economy lures U.S.-educated pastors home

    NewsAudrey Simango

  • Supreme Court declines to reinstate Florida ban on drag shows

    NewsSteve Rabey

  • Immigration advocates deplore House Republicans’ effort to tie Ukraine aid to severe border measures

    NewsJeff Brumley

  • Even as Biden supports their interest in Israel, white evangelicals disapprove of his job performance

    NewsMark Wingfield

  • As SBC moves toward second vote on Law Amendment, debate continues on just what it means

    NewsMark Wingfield

  • Hawks and Felton to lead CBF advocacy efforts

    NewsMark Wingfield

  • 30 years ago, RFRA passed with support from a broad coalition unimaginable today

    NewsJeff Brumley

  • The breasts of Advent

    OpinionJulia Goldie Day

  • Would it make Jesus puke?

    OpinionBrett Younger

  • Are we still calling him the ‘Good’ Samaritan?

    OpinionRussell Waldrop

  • Skipping verses: When the Christmas Kranks read Scripture, at Advent and otherwise

    OpinionBrad Bull

  • It is not antisemitic to oppose the nation of Israel’s atrocities

    OpinionMark Wingfield

  • Looking beyond ‘fact or fable’ alternatives in the Christmas stories of Matthew and Luke

    OpinionRobert P. Sellers

  • Letter to the Editor: A rebuttal on ‘useful idiots’

    OpinionJonathan Kuttab

  • Letter to the Editor: I was there when CBF was created, and I disagree with BNG analysis

    OpinionBill Bruster

  • The Toxic Evangelical Variant

    OpinionMartin Thielen

  • Thank you, Jack

    OpinionLayne Wallace

  • Devouring beasts: Advent and the 2024 election

    OpinionDavid Gushee, Senior Columnist

  • If the Sinner’s Prayer is the only way to salvation, why isn’t it in the Bible?

    OpinionMark Wingfield

  • I asked for awe: The gift of awe and the path of radical amazement

    OpinionH. Stephen Shoemaker

  • Still a high and holy calling      

    OpinionTony Cupit

  • The pain of advent

    OpinionJulia Goldie Day

  • ‘It was futile … nothing will change’

    OpinionChrista Brown

  • Big ideas at human size: An interview with Carrie Newcomer

    OpinionSusan M. Shaw, Senior Columnist

  • What I learned teaching incarcerated white students about structural racism

    OpinionChris Caldwell

  • Jack Tales: Remembering Jack Causey

    OpinionJustin Cox

  • Are our churches prepared for Christian autocracy?

    OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

  • Praying in a time of war

    OpinionMartin Thielen

  • The speaker and the Bible

    OpinionJim Harnish

  • Baptists were for separation of church and state before they were against it

    OpinionRodney Kennedy

  • What happens when the snow melts? Humanizing victims of the war in Gaza with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

    OpinionMallory Challis

  • Hamas’ ‘sexual pogrom’ in Israel

    OpinionJonathan Feldstein

  • Biases behind transgender athlete bans are deeply rooted

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer’s plot to ruin Christmas, and America

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • Indiana’s appeals court hears arguments challenging abortion ban under a state religious freedom law

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • Florida congressman proposes federal funding to help schools fight book bans

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • Rare Holy Land Treasures Go On International Tour

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • Hanukkah message of light in darkness feels uniquely relevant to US Jews amid war and antisemitism

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • How Advent Prepares Us To ‘Stand’ Heaven

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • A new Homeland Security guide aims to help houses of worship protect themselves

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • There’s a new Jewish Caucus in Congress. Its mission is still unclear.

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • Americans who never attend worship services are a bit of a political puzzle these days

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • Parties canceled. Celebrations toned down. Hanukkah won’t be the same this year.

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • Judge Hands World Vision a Defeat in Employment Case

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • New documentary tells the story of queer religious families in the Midwest

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • Why I Wish I’d Voted For Jimmy (And Rosalynn) Carter In ‘76

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • Armenian Christians battle developer to keep control of their corner of Jerusalem

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • Send-offs show Carlton Pearson’s split legacy spurred by his inclusive beliefs, rejection of hell

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • Recordings show how the Mormon church protects itself from child sex abuse claims

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • This Palestinian American professor leans on his Quaker faith during conflict

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • The Episcopal Church reckons with tangled protocol on clergy abuse and accountability

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • Nearly a quarter of young Brits open to banning the Bible

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • Las Vegas man accused of threats against Jewish US senator and her family is indicted

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • Israel’s mosaic of Jewish ethnic groups is key to understanding the country

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • Influential Detroit pastor the Rev. Charles Gilchrist Adams dies at age 86

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • ‘Jesus’ film producers plan release of new animated version in 2025

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

  • Elon Musk expresses regret for endorsing antisemitic post but swears at advertisers boycotting X over it

    Curated

    Exclude from home pageBNG staff

Conversations that Matter.

© 2023 Baptist News Global. All rights reserved.

Want to share a story? We hope you will! Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS