MISSION PRINCIPLES 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.
| 
