May 6, 2002

BGCT's missionary transition initiative
may take two years, leaders predict
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___DALLAS--The role of the missionary transition fund established by the Baptist General Convention of Texas may take years rather than months to assess, according to convention leaders.
___The fund was established earlier this year to provide assistance to Southern Baptist Convention missionaries who resign or are fired for refusing to sign an affirmation of the SBC's 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.
___Missionaries will need this assistance over a period of months ahead, reported Don Sewell, director of the Texas Partnerships Resource Center of the BGCT. Decisions leading to immediate resignation or termination are being made in few cases, he explained.
___The SBC's International Mission Board has not set a firm deadline for missionaries to sign the faith statement.
___"Some missionaries are deciding to resign, while others are simply not signing the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message and willing to face any consequences while staying on the field," Sewell said.
___"The bulk of people are going to be coming very, very slowly," Sewell said. "This might be a two-year process."
___By the end of April, the "transitions" e-mail address established by the BGCT had received 66 contacts from active missionaries, reported Steve Seaberry, equipping director of the Texas Partnerships Center. Nine of these either have resigned from the IMB or will be resigning within the next few weeks. One has decided to take an early retirement.
___"We have started giving financial assistance to one family," Seaberry said. "Another family will begin receiving assistance in May; yet another will arrive in the States in June and will begin receiving assistance in September. This pattern continues."
___The BGCT also has heard from missionaries on four continents who are taking early retirement rather than sign the faith statement--missionaries who will not need financial aid.
___Also as of April 30, the BGCT had in hand cash gifts to missionary transition fund of $1,080,000. An additional $250,000 gift in stocks was in process at that date also.

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