As churches and individual Christians demand more hands-on, practical connection to missions, some Baptists are questioning whether a missions-by-proxy approach—churches supporting professional career missionaries sent by large denominational agencies— has a future.
Count Ken Hall, president of Buckner International, among them.
Granted, God uses “imperfect instruments” to accomplish his work, and he blesses a variety of approaches to accomplish his mission—including big denominational bureaucracies, Hall said. But he generally doubts the wisdom of missions agencies sending cross-cultural career missionaries internationally as “surrogates” for other Christians.
IMB PHOTO
Southern Baptist Missionary Scott Bradford joins a friend for a traditional African tea ceremony known as “warga.” The two-hour ceremony takes places three times a day and consists of three rounds of tea, each progressively sweeter than the last. Short-term volunteer trips cannot take the place of this kind of “incarnational” presence by career missionaries, according to Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research.