The Virginia Baptist Mission Board and Woman's Missionary Union of Virginia have modified their approach to Co-Missioners, the two organizations' joint missions initiative and education emphasis.
Co-Missioners seeks to cast a unified missions vision for Virginia Baptist churches though hands-on missions opportunities and customized models of missions lifestyle development.
The VBMB's executive committee and WMUV's trustee and advisory boards have agreed to focus on eight intiatives during 2005-2008 and to end shared employee Co-Missioner funded-positions.
The initiatives are:
• Aging with significance;
• Health ministries network;
• Lydia Project/church planting;
• Latino Network/Muslim outreach;
• Partnership missions/Venturers;
• Collegiate ministries;
• WINGS/missions education/Virginia Missions Magazine; and
• An annual Missions Celebration.
Each of the initiatives will be undertaken in conjunction with WMUV and one or more teams of the Mission Board.
The shared employee decision eliminates the only still existing Co-Missioner position-multi-cultural resourcing innovator, filled by Kristin Fogg. That position ends Nov. 1.
Although Fogg did an outstanding job, the Co-Missioner positions have been hampered by multiple supervisors, said John Upton, executive director of the Mission Board.
“The positions were not able to function at their maximum efficiency, he said.
“Each entity [the Mission Board and WMUV] has different board structures and different ways of making decisions and different management systems,” said Earlene Jessee, executive director of WMUV.
Both Upton and Jessee said theymaintain strong support for the Co-Missioners emphasis, which will continue to be coordinated by a Co-Missioner Council.
The 16-member council will meet twice a year and will develop and coordinate the implementation of annual Co-Missioner initiatives.
Members include executive directors of both the Mission Board and WMUV, and the presidents of the Baptist General Association of Virginia and WMUV; WMUV's assistant executive director and the team leader of the Mission Board's glocal missions and evangelism team; three persons nominated by the BGAV president and elected by the Mission Board; three persons nominated by the WMUV president and elected by WMUV trustees; a pastor or church staff representative selected by the Mission Board; a director of missions or associational staff representative selected by WMUV; and one representative from the staff of both the Mission Board and WMUV, selected by the respective executive directors.
The Co-Missioners charter describes the emphasis as “an integrated approach” to missions involvement and education.
“Through a variety of missions learning opportunities … we are responding to the voiced needs of Virginia Baptist churches,” the charter says.
Staff report