Mission Purpose:
The mission of American Baptist International Ministries is to glorify God in all the earth by crossing cultural boundaries to make disciples of Jesus Christ.
Led by the Holy Spirit and faithful to Scripture, we fulfill this purpose by:
- proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord;
- promoting the establishment, growth and maturing of churches;
- working toward God's Reign of justice, peace and abundant life;
- seeking the renewal of God's creation; and
- mobilizing American Baptists in mission.
We pursue these ends as an extension of American Baptist congregations that helps them to partner with churches and peoples around the world.
God is the source of life and mission. God created a good world. Human beings used their God-given freedom to sin, bringing death and destruction to themselves and all creation. Ever since, God has worked to rescue us from death, to undo the destruction caused by our sin and to renew creation. The decisive step in God’s saving mission came when God entered fully into our life through Jesus of Nazareth. In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, "God was reconciling the world to himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19).
The church is formed as the Spirit of God takes those who respond to Jesus and builds them into a community of faith. By our words and actions as a body of believers, we have the privilege of playing a role in God’s mission to the world. We are ordinary people through whom the Spirit does extraordinary work: glorifying God, making disciples of Jesus Christ and offering to all a glimpse of the coming Reign of God.
American Baptists have been a part of the world-wide body of believers since we came into existence some three centuries ago in colonial America. In 1814 we responded to God’s call to engage in mission beyond our own land, forming an organization that is now called American Baptist International Ministries.
We give thanks for the leading of God that has given us a rich heritage and a worldwide reputation for balanced and sensitive mission outreach. We recognize that our history also includes times when we have not responded faithfully to God’s leading. But, because the Holy Spirit who is working in our world is also working within us, we are not limited by past failures or accomplishments. American Baptists look to the Spirit, to Scripture and to our experience with sisters and brothers around the world to renew our witness and to lead us into fresh and effective ways to glorify God in our rapidly changing world.
Our world is on the move. People are moving further, faster and more frequently than ever before. People groups who once were separated by continents or oceans now meet as neighbors. Information moves so quickly and is spread so widely that local events can be known worldwide. World events have become local events. Scientific and technological discovery moves at unbelievable speed. What we learned as children must be replaced by new learning as adults. What was impossible yesterday becomes difficult today… but available to everyone tomorrow. Yesterday’s breakthrough product becomes tomorrow’s commodity.
But… even when we live next door, we do not always become true neighbors. And, some of those "on the move" are refugees fleeing harmful economic and political forces. Some of our fast-moving information is misleading, or even destructive. And many people have almost no access to information technology at all. Some of our technological breakthroughs are not an advance but are merely new ways to control or destroy.
The city is where people are going in record numbers. Not long ago the people of our planet lived primarily in rural settings, but our world is fast becoming one of urban dwellers. People are flooding into cities in search of jobs, knowledge, culture and recreation.
But… where people come together, we bring not only our creativity but also our sinfulness. So our cities, while full of potential, are choking on problems.
The world economy is no longer a phrase, but a reality. Local economies are now powerfully linked to the global economy. Worldwide exchange is creating opportunities for production and distribution that give average people access to goods and services once available only to those with great privilege and power.
But… our global economy means that decisions and judgments made by unseen and faraway people can produce crises and devastation in local economies. And, many people on our planet cannot hope to acquire even those products that we regard as available "to everyone."
"Who am I?" becomes a hard question to answer in the midst of so much and such rapid change. To answer this question, people in many places are identifying more strongly with their ethnic group, their race, their religious tradition or their culture. Being a citizen of a particular nation is becoming less important to people than being a member of an ethnic, racial or religious group.
But… our human sinfulness makes it easy for our group identities to become the basis not only for strength, but also for competition and conflict with other groups. Many regions of the world are torn by conflict between ethnic, racial or religious groups.
Spiritual hunger grows as people search for a sense of identity in the midst of bewildering change. Spiritual hunger also grows as people realize that science and technology can answer only their questions about "what" and "how," but not about the "why" of their lives. Throughout the world, people are increasingly aware of the spiritual character of human life and are searching for spiritual answers.
But… especially in the most economically and technologically advanced nations, many people have given up the quest for spiritual answers, settling for either despair (seen in rising rates of suicide and drug use) or distraction (through consumerism and entertainment).
Christ is the answer to spiritual hunger, spiritual apathy and the human problems that tear apart our planet. Believers have never had more means at their disposal to communicate the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. The wind of the Spirit is stirring the members of our churches in new ways, giving people a deep desire to become personally involved in mission. The wind of the Spirit is also blowing around the world, raising up missionaries, evangelists and gifted leaders from among God’s people in every nation.
But… while Christians in nations where churches are rich and respected have access to all manner of devotional aids, teaching tools and ministry sophistication, Christians in poorer nations often struggle with basic issues of economic survival, literacy, access to Scripture and religious persecution. Most importantly, despite God’s amazing work of mission—especially in the last two hundred years—over a billion people on our planet have never heard the message of salvation in Jesus Christ.
God continues to call American Baptists into mission, together with our sisters and brothers from other churches and other countries. We are situated in a part of the planet where both economic resources and access to the gospel of Jesus Christ are in plentiful supply. At the same time, it is a place where human brokenness and need for the saving power of the gospel are clearly present. With full awareness of our own need for God’s grace and transforming power, American Baptists in our time are called anew to participate in God's mission to the whole world. Renewed in our calling, we must be renewed also in our methods. As we do mission in new ways, fit for a new day, we confirm the words of our first missionary, who declared the future to be "as bright as the promises of God."
As American Baptists respond to God’s call, our practice of mission must be shaped by the following core principles. We confess that we have not always lived up to our ideals, but daily recommit ourselves to them.
Prayer: We believe that mission springs from God’s initiative, is guided by God’s Spirit and is accomplished through God’s power. Therefore, we continually seek the Lord in prayer.
Scripture: We believe God has decisively and authoritatively spoken to humanity through Scripture. Therefore, we seek to be grounded in and faithful to Scripture in our understanding and practice of mission.
Christ-like Ministry: We believe that Jesus met human need with a holistic salvation, one that touched all aspects of life. Therefore, our witness to Jesus Christ also integrates verbal proclamation of the gospel with response to human need and care for the creation.
Partnership: We believe that God has made all human beings fundamentally equal in creation and redemption. Therefore, we engage in mission in ways that recognize and respect the equality and giftedness of all of our partners both internationally and within the U.S. and Puerto Rico. We also recognize the existence of real inequalities in our relationships. Therefore, we strive to build relationships of mutual giving and receiving, in which vision, initiative, learning, and action are shared by all of those involved. We strive to avoid relationships of paternalism and dependency.
Servant Attitude: We believe that in Jesus, God took on human flesh, giving us the model of humbly identifying with those he served. Therefore, we seek to follow this incarnational model, developing ways of living and serving that identify us with the people we serve.
Service to "the Least of These": We believe God takes up the cause of those who are excluded or victimized by human sinfulness. Therefore, we give special attention to the excluded, recognizing that people may be discriminated against for reasons of economic status, gender, age, race, ethnicity or religion.
The Church: We believe God accomplishes the mission of Jesus Christ in our world primarily through the church. Therefore, in all that we do we seek with our mission partners to build churches that both meet their own needs (for governance, growth, support and theological reflection) and also enter joyfully into Christian mission beyond their own people.
Global Dimension: We believe that God’s redeeming and renewing mission is universal in at least two dimensions: mission is to all places and is a work of all members of the Body of Christ. Therefore, we recognize that every place is a field of mission—including the U.S. and Puerto Rico—and that all believers are called to play a role in mission, according to the diverse gifts they have received.
Cooperation: We believe that God has called the church to unity in mission, and that Christ is at work in the world through many different organizations. Therefore, we cooperate with a wide range of agencies (church, non-denominational, secular) to fulfill God’s call and our mission. We are particularly committed to an ecumenical stance that encourages fellowship, cooperation, and joint action with other Christian people to whom we are bound by the ties of a common cause and a common Lord. This commitment to cooperation must also—and especially—be embodied in our work with American Baptist churches, regions, program agencies and educational institutions.
Flexibility, Creativity and Freedom: We believe that God has shared elements of God’s own creativity and freedom with human beings. Therefore, we encourage flexible and creative responses to the leading of God’s Spirit. We affirm the freedom of all those with whom we work to respond creatively to the new things God is doing. We are committed to remaining flexible in our structures, methods, and approach as we support those responses and carry out the tasks that God has entrusted to us.
Dynamic Tensions: We believe that God calls people to exercise wisdom in a dynamic way as we continually balance competing values. As we move forward in mission, we are committed to hold in creative tension values such as inspired freedom and faithfulness to tradition, partnership and pioneering, cultural identity and adaptation, accountability and creativity.
Care for People: We believe that God, who is love, calls us into relationships of love and mutual support in community. We respond to this call by putting "people over program" and caring for all people with whom we work, both those served and those who offer their lives in service. We are especially committed to ensuring that missionaries and their families have the support that they need.
Qualified Personnel: In order to have the kind of missionary staff that can work in partnership with Christian leaders around the world and give them meaningful assistance, we will continue to maintain high standards in the selection and orientation of missionaries. In addition to a deep and growing commitment to Christ, desired qualities include professional competence, good health, personal maturity, theological perception, cultural sensitivity and ability to work cooperatively with other members of the team.
Baptist Identity: As Baptists, we will advocate and model the principles of the Lordship of Christ, the authority of Scripture, believer’s baptism, the autonomy of the local church, the priesthood of all believers, religious freedom and voluntary cooperation.
Accountability: We believe that God calls people to account for their stewardship of the gifts they have received, and that believers are called to practice mutual encouragement and exhortation. Therefore, International Ministries seeks to be accountable to American Baptists, recognizing that we are an instrument by which American Baptist churches respond to God’s call to mission.
Evangelism and Discipleship:
Vision:
Jesus Christ is drawing all nations to God through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the church (John 12:32; Philippians 2:10-11). International Ministries serves this vision by crossing cultural barriers to proclaim the gospel in word and deed, seeking both to make disciples of Jesus Christ and to grow in our own discipleship, following the Lord of life. We are called both to give and to receive, in a process that seeks the transformation of individuals, societies and all creation. We expect this process of transformation to be at work in us and throughout the world until the return of our Risen Lord (Philippians 1:6).
Strategies: International Ministries will:
Recognize that while evangelism and transformation are needed in every place, we are called to give more attention to those places and people groups where there is the least awareness of the gospel.
Expand significantly its ministry to peoples and cultures that historically have been underserved by American Baptist mission outreach.
Support evangelism that establishes new churches and promotes discipleship.
Arrange opportunities for our Christian sisters and brothers from other countries and cultures to share their vital witness and renew American Baptists.
Measurable Goals: By 2010, International Ministries will:
Join with partners to work among at least one unreached group in every country in which we have missionaries.
Establish work in 10 countries that have not historically been served by American Baptist mission, giving special attention to those with large numbers of those who have not had the opportunity to hear the gospel.
Develop a network of churches engaged in outreach to unreached and underserved peoples.
Celebrate and support the church planting work of our partners. We anticipate that they will establish 10,000 new churches and 10,000 new preaching places.
Work with all ABC regions as they receive missionaries from international partner churches.
Christ-like Mission:
Vision:
Jesus preached the good news of salvation and demonstrated it with actions, and that God’s work of salvation will ultimately embrace not only persons but creation itself (Romans 8:19-21; Revelation 21:1). International Ministries serves as one of God’s agents to make real the redeeming love of Christ in a world of personal sin, social injustice and ecological destruction. International Ministries focuses especially on ministry to and with the poor, seeking together with them the coming fullness of God’s Reign (Luke 4:18-19).
Strategies: International Ministries will:
Develop ministries specifically dedicated to work with and for children, youth and women.
Serve the whole person and the whole community through ministries of economic and human development (health, education, community development, agriculture, stewardship of the earth, chemical dependency rehabilitation, etc.) that are fully integrated with proclamation.
Pursue peace, justice and reconciliation through ministries of conflict transformation and education, as well as by standing with and serving the victims of conflict.
Work with all international partner churches to assess local needs for expanded ministries of service (especially to "the least of these") that would complement existing ministries of proclamation.
Promote effective stewardship, economic self-sufficiency and the sustainable use of the earth’s resources.
Give special attention to persons and groups whose place in society reduces their experience of the fullness of life that God desires for them.
Measurable Goals: By 2010, International Ministries will:
Establish a number of "Global Ministry Specialist" missionaries dedicated to engaging our partners in developing and expanding strategic ministries. The first two such positions will focus globally on ministry to at-risk women and unreached people groups. We expect to establish at least 8 ministry specialist positions.
Support at least 2 projects dedicated to empowering women and nurturing their leadership in each of our administrative areas.
Join with and encourage all overseas partner churches to develop or strengthen ministries to children and youth.
Establish an office dedicated to enabling American Baptist entrepreneurs and businesspersons to participate directly in job-creating development projects around the world.
Use information technology to develop an interactive skills bank of people who can serve as consultants to specific mission efforts and/or advisors for the coordination of related ministries.
Assemble teams of advisors and missionaries to respond to particular ministry opportunities, especially to those involving work on: AIDS; at-risk women and children; community-based health care; drug detoxification and rehabilitation; sustainable community and economic development; reconciliation and conflict transformation; relief; stewardship. At least 10 advisory team engagements are expected during the decade.
Equipping Leaders:
Vision:
Jesus and the first Christians were dedicated to calling and equipping leaders (Mark 3:14-15; 2 Timothy 2:2). International Ministries seeks to promote the strength and maturity of the global Body of Christ by giving priority to the formation of leaders, both pastors and laypersons. We envision significant growth in leadership training within all the groups whom we serve. This growth will come as we and our partners together respond to the call for new models of training and theological education that are more accessible, more holistic, globally related and yet grounded in local cultures and contexts.
Strategies: International Ministries will:
Promote and share innovative strategies for training lay and pastoral leaders, especially those strategies that most effectively equip leaders to combine proclamation and service.
Pursue training strategies that keep leaders most closely connected to their place of service and cultural context, as well as those that make the greatest possible use of local resources.
Give special attention to the needs of groups whose leadership potential has traditionally not been fully recognized in their own context.
Promote the exchange of information and leaders among its international partners and between those partners and American Baptist constituencies.
Expand our commitment to send missionaries dedicated both to enter their places of service as learners and to equip partners to replace missionaries with local leaders.
Measurable Goals: By 2010, International Ministries will:
Develop both internet-based and low-technology-based models for in-service training for church leaders, both lay and ordained.
Sponsor conferences for international and American Baptist mission partners and International Ministries personnel in 5 different regions of the world, devoted to sharing and developing innovative training strategies.
Designate 30% of general scholarship funds to the support of study by persons who have traditionally been underrepresented in the leadership of their church bodies.
Work with American Baptist and international congregations to develop 25 locally-funded exchange programs to enable lay and pastoral leaders to do cross-cultural ministry and reflection.
Train all missionaries to function as practitioner-trainers, and work with partners to incorporate this function into all missionary job descriptions.
Mission Education:
Vision:
God continually renews American Baptist churches through their engagement in and study of cross-cultural ministries at home and abroad. Inspired by the Great Commission and enriched by the lessons of mission involvement, the community of faith grows through education in the theory and practice of mission. Such education nurtures the passion for mission that leads to a lifelong commitment to put faith into action. In this way, believers and churches both increase in number and grow toward the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:15).
Strategies: International Ministries will:
Promote meaningful, direct and personal involvement in mission by the greatest possible number of American Baptist persons and congregations. This will include both a wide variety of mission service opportunities, as well as personal relationships between missionaries and the congregations that support them. In particular, International Ministries will support the work of local churches that provide youth with life-changing experiences in cross-cultural ministry, drawing them closer to Christ and to a lifelong commitment to global mission.
Cooperate with Educational Ministries, National Ministries, American Baptist regions, local congregations and international partners to provide American Baptist churches with age- and culture-appropriate resources for education in mission theory and practice that leads to personal involvement in global mission.
Promote mission learning experiences for pastors, theological educators, ministers of Mission Support, Mission Advocates and other key mission mobilizers in local churches.
Expand and diversify the financial resources devoted to cross-cultural mission by engaging more people in global mission and developing new sources of funding.
Support the efforts of local churches to incorporate the gifts of the worldwide Body of Christ into their worship.
Work with American Baptist regions, National Ministries and Educational Ministries to provide consulting services to American Baptist congregations engaged in cross-cultural ministry in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
Encourage all sectors of the American Baptist family, including all ethnic and racial groups, to participate fully in cross-cultural global mission.
Measurable Goals: By 2010, International Ministries will:
Help interested ABC-related seminaries, colleges and campus ministries establish effective programs for providing their students semester- or year-long mission and study experiences at International Ministries-related institutions around the world.
Arrange for a short-term mission engagement team each year to carry out special-focus ministries (sports, music, arts, etc.) in cross-cultural settings.
Support the work of 1000 short-term mission groups per year from American Baptist churches.
Train and deploy mission education instructors for mission training events in all ABC regions.
Produce electronically-available mission education resources for all major ABC language groups in partnership with American Baptist congregations, regions, program boards and international partners.
Produce 3 additional Vacation Bible School curricula designed to increase understanding of and engagement in global mission.
Provide 20 scholarships per year to enable pastors, theological educators, ministers of Mission Support or Mission Advocates to engage in structured short-term international mission learning experiences.
Produce 12 mission-related worship resources per year.
Provide cross-cultural consulting services to ABC regions in partnership with other ABC program agencies.
Establish a significant number of mission partnerships with every sector of the American Baptist family, including all ethnic and racial groups.
Co-sponsor, with the leadership of each racial-ethnic caucus, a special-focus world mission conference that responds to the interests of that part of the ABC community.
Appoint missionaries and staff so that the International Ministries mission team reflects fully and accurately ABC diversity.
Urban Mission:
Vision:
God will ultimately transform today’s cities according to the model of the coming City of God (Revelation 21:2). God is calling International Ministries to complement its historic strength in rural and tribal work with an increased commitment to seek the shalom of the great cities of our world (Jeremiah 29:7). We pursue this goal as part of a global network. International Ministries’ role is to promote the sharing of expertise, learning and resources for use both within the network and also for pioneering ventures. International Ministries works with all relevant American Baptist agencies when engaged in ministry within the cities of the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
Strategies: International Ministries will:
Form a team of urban ministry advisors to guide International Ministries’ search for global and local urban strategies, models, funding and opportunities. This team will be drawn from among American Baptist urban ministry practitioners (working in local churches, National Ministries, regions, non-denominational organizations and International Ministries) as well as specialists from international partner churches.
Develop centers for the study and practice of cross-cultural urban ministry in strategic cities worldwide.
Provide consulting services in cross-cultural urban ministries as requested.
Measurable Goals: By 2010, International Ministries will:
Establish an Urban Ministry Team.
Create an Urban Ministry Specialist position.
Establish cross-cultural urban ministry centers in 5 strategic cities.
Mission Explosion:
Vision:
God sends the worldwide Body of Christ to engage in mission to, from and within all six continents. International Ministries joins with other members of that Body to form a network that multiplies cross-cultural mission efforts in all directions. Members of the network include international churches and conventions as well as American Baptist churches, regions and other ABC program agencies. International Ministries practices a policy of "high sensitivity and low control," affirming the creativity, freedom and responsibility of all members of the network. Sharing a commitment to a set of core principles and operating guidelines, members of the network join together to access funding, resources and personnel and engage in the full range of mission activities. The mission potential of the Body of Christ is multiplied as the gifts of the whole body are recognized, exercised and celebrated (1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4).
Strategies: International Ministries will:
Mobilize a prayer network with all those to whom we are joined in mission, sharing news of mission needs, opportunities and God’s mighty works as widely as possible to support thanksgiving and specific intercession.
Support new models of mission service as American Baptist local churches and regions engage directly in international mission (including sister-church relationships, leadership exchanges, intra-ethnic outreach, short term teams, etc.), while continuing to send traditional long-term missionaries.
Encourage mission in many directions by cooperating with international partners as they send their own cross-cultural missionaries, including missionaries to the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
Aggressively use emerging information technologies to support the broadest possible participation and collaboration of American Baptist and other partners in responding to global mission opportunities.
Redesign its internal structure in order to promote flexibility, creativity and responsiveness, so that initiative and decision-making are located as close as possible to the ministries involved.
Measurable Goals: By 2010, International Ministries will:
Maintain an effective interactive communications system for sharing both regular and urgent service opportunities and prayer needs with American Baptist and international partners in mission.
Pursue specific international mission initiatives with at least 100 American Baptist partnership groups (local churches, regions, program agencies), guided by formal partnership covenants.
Help at least 500 American Baptist congregations to establish and maintain church-to-church ("sister church") relationships with international congregations.
Make our missionary orientation program available to any American Baptist preparing for cross-cultural missionary service, regardless of sending agency.
Recognize and cooperate with American Baptists serving internationally with other sending agencies.
Deploy 10 missionaries whose job descriptions include helping partner conventions to send and support their own cross-cultural missionaries.
Invest 10% of its annual operating budget in creative initiatives.
Create a staff position to provide leadership in the use of information technology for mission.
Create a staff position to coordinate and shape the implementation of the Mission Explosion strategy.
