What if they just say no?
You may have recently seen in the news that the IMB will be, in the next week or so, offering an early retirement package for missionaries who meet certain qualifications. They are doing this in attempts to bring their spending in line with their income. Over the last 6 years expenditures have outpaced income by 210 million dollars. That’s right, million. They are implementing a plan to reduce their missionary force by 600 to 800 missionaries.
This isn’t the first reduction in their history. The high-water marker, in terms of missionaries on the field, occurred seven years ago when they had approximately 5,600 missionaries serving around the globe. Through natural attrition, they reduced that number over the years. This further reduction will represent a 25% cut from their high-water mark .
Obviously this is not the trajectory that we as Southern Baptists want to see. In practical terms not only are we reducing our front line army by 25% but we are taking the most experienced, most knowledgeable and most connected soldiers off the field. These are the people who not only have a lot to offer the nationals where they serve, but also act as mentors to newer missionaries to the field. Make no mistake, when they step on the plane in just a few short months it is both to the detriment of the mission and the missionaries they served with.
Our heart sank when the announcement was made last week. Quite honestly, we hoped that when our new president took the position a year ago that funding would increase because of his connectedness to younger pastors. Unfortunately, for whatever reasons, that has not occurred. The leadership in the IMB made the responsible decision that the only way forward was to reduce spending to be inline with giving. I’m sure that decision was not made lightly and is one we affirm wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, the most direct route in making that happen is offering an early retirement for some missionaries.
As we have prayed through this over the last week my heart has wondered, “What if they just said, no?” What would happen if none of those who qualified took the offer? What then? I’m not proposing this to create a catastrophic situation within the walls of the IMB, but surely, we as Southern Baptists, can do better… can’t we? One friend recently posted on Facebook that if each of the SBC 50,000 churches just gave $420 USD we could keep these missionaries on the field. I think this is an incredible idea! The reality is though, that it would need to be sustained in the years to come. A one time gift could keep them there for one year more. But maybe that would be long enough to get the message out and let the reality sink in that if we as Southern Baptists don’t give more, our collaborative missionary force will continue to dwindle.
It is fair and responsible to ask questions like, “How did we get to this point?” “Can’t spending be cut in other areas?” “Why is this the first time I am hearing about this?” “Why don’t we stop sending people?” Again, those are fair questions to ask and some of those have already been answered. Unfortunately they don’t change the stark reality that in December many of our most experienced missionaries will continue to do what they have done for so many years of their faithful missionary service. They will once again sacrifice their desires and put others first so the Gospel can be proclaimed throughout the world.
It leaves those of us with less experience grieving and wondering who will be next and how long do we have.
Here is my twofold hope. First, that those experienced missionaries who qualify for early retirement and haven’t yet felt God release them from their assignment will refuse to leave. May God bless these remaining years of your ministry. May this recent reality of limited time stir in you a renewed purpose and vision to reach not only your people group, but also to mentor those who are walking in your shadow and who are eager to learn from you.
Second, may this awaken us as Southern Baptists to a renewed commitment to financially supporting missionaries who are serving around the world through the IMB. There are countless examples we could give of ways to sacrifice to make this a reality, but in truth, if we individually brought this to the Father in prayer I’m convinced He would bring to mind ways we could sacrifice so the Gospel can be proclaimed. Call me naive, but I think that is a prayer that God will answer. May we say yes so they can say no.
Although this is not intended to be a “fundraising letter” I would be remiss if I didn’t give people who are so moved to give. If you would like to give to the IMB, you can do so here:
For His Glory,
David Petro
Comments
One correction — though the majority of the drawdown of 600-800 personnel will be missionaries, it's not just missionaries. It's missionaries and home office staff, which would include those who are IMB staff but might be located in Missouri or Tennessee or somewhere else in the US.