BGCT Missions Review and Initiative Committee Report

September 2, 2002

BGCT Missions Review and Initiative Committee Report

Preface
"Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.
Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples."
(Psalm 96:1-3, NIV)

The missions mandate permeates Scripture. God gave the mandate to His people, His church, and that mandate remains unchanged. At the same time, the world continues to change rapidly. Each generation must remain true to the unchanging Great Commission, while dreaming new dreams about ways it may be fulfilled. The Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) Missions Review and Initiatives Committee desires that Texas Baptists focus on the future. The committee’s prayer is that Texas Baptists join together in singing a new song, declaring God’s glory among the nations and his mighty acts among all peoples.

Introduction

The BGCT Missions Review and Initiatives Committee was formed in response to the following recommendations, brought by the BGCT Missions Sending Agencies Study Committee and approved by the BGCT Executive Board at its May 22, 2001, meeting in Dallas:

We believe that the missions efforts of the BGCT should be strengthened, focusing on connecting Texas Baptists with Baptist groups around the world. We recommend new strategies be developed to enhance significantly the participation of Texas Baptists in volunteer missions efforts throughout the world.

We recommend that this study committee be disbanded following adoption of this report and that responsibility for monitoring and evaluating the relationships between the BGCT and the Southern Baptist Convention and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship missions sending agencies shall be assigned to a group to be named by the President of the BGCT, the Chair of the Executive Board and the Executive Director of the Executive Board. This group will include members from this study committee, the staff of the Executive Board and others. This action will allow the BGCT to respond quickly should there be significant changes in the philosophy, theology or operations of any of the missions sending agencies. The dialogue group will engage in regular conversation with the administrations of the missions sending agencies and be empowered to bring recommendations through proper channels.

BGCT President Clyde Glazener of Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Executive Board Chairman Rudy Sanchez of Primera Iglesia Bautista Mexicana in Dallas and Executive Director Charles Wade named the 24-member Missions Review and Initiatives Committee, which in turn divided into four subcommittees. Glazener was named chairman, and Ophelia Humphrey of First Baptist Church in Amarillo was named vice chair. Other members, listed by subcommittee, were:

Networking Initiatives Subcommittee

Keith Parks, Richardson, chair

Kathy Hillman, Waco, vice chair

Stan Allcorn, Abilene

Herbert Reynolds, Waco

Phil Strickland, Dallas*

Bruce Webb, Jacksonville

International Mission Board (IMB) Subcommittee

Dan Malone, El Paso, chair

Betty Law, Fort Worth, vice chair

Debbie Ferrier, Houston

John Cash Smith, Orange

Bill Tinsley, Rockwall*

Dennis Young, Missouri City

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) Subcommittee

Jim Nelson, Austin, chair

Bill Noble, Lubbock, vice chair

Ronald Edwards, Goliad

Robert Rodriguez, Harlingen

North American Mission Board (NAMB) Subcommittee

Albert Reyes, San Antonio, chair

Marilyn Hillyer, Tyler, vice chair

Alvin Burns, Dallas

E.B. Brooks, Cedar Hill*

Curtis Crofton, Tyler

David Mahfouz, Port Neches

*BGCT Executive Board staff

The full committee adopted the following purpose statement:

To implement the Executive Board’s adoption of the Missions Sending Agencies Study Committee Report, this committee has been appointed to monitor and evaluate the relationship between the BGCT and the Southern Baptist Convention and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship mission sending agencies and to develop new strategies that will strengthen the mission efforts of Texas Baptists, and enhance significantly the participation of Texas Baptists in volunteer mission efforts, in partnership relations that connect Texas with Baptist groups around the world.

Networking Initiatives: A Summary of Findings

The Executive Board instructed the Missions Review and Initiatives Committee to develop new strategies to strengthen Texas Baptist missions efforts and expand missions opportunities for Texas Baptist churches. The Networking Initiatives Subcommittee sought to follow the lead of Texas Baptist churches and the best thinking of leading missiologists who point to hands-on involvement as the future of missions. It examined and evaluated ways that churches are fulfilling the Great Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ. Texas Baptist churches and institutions already are deeply involved in direct missions and eager for new challenges to embody the message of Christ.

The Networking Initiatives Subcommittee sought to listen and learn from all segments of Baptist life. Texas Baptists met at 15 sites to express their experiences and mission interests. More than 1,000 people from about 250 churches attended, sharing their current mission activities and dreams for the future. Additionally, pastors from different sized churches and various cultures described their churches’ missions activities. Baptist missiologists, all of whom have served as missionaries, provided analyses of worldwide missions activities. Representatives from Texas Baptist institutions reported on their missions activities and missions plans. Members of the subcommittee, along with several members of the full committee, met with leaders of 24 Baptist conventions and unions across the world to hear their missions vision.

Findings included:

Texas Baptist churches and individuals are deeply involved in global as well as local and national missions. In regional listening sessions, churches told about their missions efforts. A brief survey of churches in 20 associations identified local church missions activity in 11 states outside Texas and in 17 countries, including China, India, Romania, Ecuador and several African nations. Churches reported in the 2001 Annual Church Profiles that 175,083 persons, representing almost one-third of average Sunday School attendance, served in missions projects locally, in the state, in the country and abroad. Of that number, 107,403 served in their local communities, 23,515 served elsewhere in Texas, 17,988 served in another state, and 26,177 served outside the United States. This represents a 17 percent increase in missions involvement over the previous year.

The distinction between local and worldwide missions is blurring rapidly. Ministry regardless of geopolitical borders is becoming a pattern in many churches.

Baptists believe deeply in holistic ministry to meet human needs. Texas Baptist missions philosophy embraces the command to "love your neighbor as yourself." Texas Baptist churches evangelize people through personal witnessing, evangelistic services and other activities and events. They start new churches to reach the lost, provide shelter and food, visit the sick and those in prison, care for children, teach English as a second language, and offer a multitude of other ministries to embody God’s love for all people.

Texas Baptist institutions form an effective missions force, ministering in Christ’s name locally, nationally and internationally in both short-term and long-term commitments. Buckner Baptist Benevolences, for example, has extensive child care programs with 30 permanent staff employed in 18 countries.

Texas Baptist Men, Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas (Texas WMU), Texas Partnerships Resource Center and Mission Service Corps are strategic missions forces and vital sources of missions education. As people work in Texas, throughout the United States or overseas on ministry projects, they grow in their understanding of missions and their commitment to serve.

Laypeople who travel and/or live overseas play a key role as mission envoys, developing relationships that provide unique opportunities for Christian witness.

Texas Baptists are responding to emerging international missions opportunities. Leaders of the National Baptist Convention of Mexico and the BGCT established a joint committee to develop a cooperative missions strategy. Texas Baptists will assist the Baptists of Mexico in meeting human needs, strengthening theological education and starting churches. Baptists in Mexico will work with Texas Baptist churches in reaching Texas’ rapidly growing Hispanic population. The European Baptist Federation asked the BGCT — along with other state Baptist conventions, the Southern Baptist International Mission Board and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions — to help reach unreached people groups in Europe through relief projects, theological education and indigenous missionaries who know the language and culture.

Texas Baptists need enhanced missions education. The efforts of Texas WMU and Texas Baptist Men to promote age-appropriate missions education need to be strengthened and strongly supported by churches and church staff. Supplemental Texas missions information needs to be developed.

Children and students need a greater missions challenge. Although many participate in missions activities, they need additional encouragement, education and opportunities.

Texas Baptists need a missions vision that recognizes missions as the responsibility of every church and every Christian. Churches increasingly want to own that vision, but they also want a collective vision of what Texas Baptist churches can do together. They see any vision that views missions exclusively in the context of institutions or boards that they only pray for and pay for as an incomplete vision. For many, the question is not only, "How do we support missions?" It is also, "How do we do missions?"

Churches want the BGCT to provide vision and support. Participants in listening sessions indicated that they want the BGCT to offer resources such as a database of needs and opportunities, strategy planning, cultural training and field assistance.

Recommendations

The Missions Review and Initiatives Committee recommends:

That a world missions network be established to help churches, associations, institutions and individuals fulfill their missions calling through both short-term and long-term missions endeavors across the United States and the world.

That this world missions network connect churches, associations, institutions and individuals to available missions research, education, information, facilitation, training, screening, strategy development and support.

That this world missions network, like other existing Texas Baptist entities, be established as a not-for-profit [501(c)(3)] affiliate of the Baptist General Convention of Texas with a permanent, strong connection to the BGCT, and that the director of the network serve on the BGCT Leadership Council.

That this world missions network be governed by a 32-member rotating board, all of whom are Baptists; and that the BGCT elect through the Committee on Nominations for Institutions Boards three-fourths of the board members and the board choose one-fourth.

That the initial board of this world missions network be chosen by the president of the convention, the chair of the BGCT Executive Board, the chair of the Administrative Committee, the chair of the Missions Review and Initiatives Committee, the president of Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas, the president of Texas Baptist Men and the executive director of the BGCT.

That this world missions network establish an advisory council to bring together missions experts and representatives of Baptist conventions from across the world on a regular basis to work on further missions endeavors, and that the executive directors of the BGCT, Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas and Texas Baptist Men serve on the advisory council.

Rationale

Networks create points of connection. The BGCT desires to connect people with God, with one another and with God’s call. The world missions network creates a way to connect churches and institutions with needs, opportunities and resources. God connected with humankind at the cross. The Bible challenges believers to connect their hearts to the hearts of the world, their ears to the cries of the world, their eyes to the needs of the world, their hope to the despair of the world, and their message to those who need to hear the good news of God’s salvation in Jesus Christ.

The New Testament teaches that the church is at the center of missions. Baptists’ theology of missions acknowledges the church as the primary missions base. Texas Baptists need fluid and flexible structures that can respond to the moving of the Spirit, enabling and equipping churches to fulfill their missions calling. The world missions network can provide that kind of church-directed missions entity.

The world missions network opens the door to greater missions involvement for every church and individual. The BGCT desires that every church be a missional church and every Christian embrace his or her missions calling. The world missions network will challenge and equip local churches and their members to reach out to every nation and people. The BGCT does not tell local churches and individuals what their vision should be. Rather, the convention works with them in seeking and implementing God’s vision for both their church and the BGCT churches as a whole. The world missions network will assist churches in doing missions, just as the BGCT Church Starting Center aids churches in starting churches.

The world missions network will facilitate church involvement in both short-term and long-term missions efforts in every part of the world. The network will encourage, support, facilitate and cooperate with local churches. The network will work closely with existing Baptist agencies, such as the Baptist World Alliance, the International Mission Board and North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions and other appropriate missions agencies. The network will not only facilitate work with these agencies, but also will provide additional information and expertise to churches and institutions. The network will access the resources of Texas Partnerships, Mission Service Corps, Texas WMU, Texas Baptist Men, River Ministry and other BGCT-related ministries and institutions to help churches connect with missions needs. The network can serve as a catalyst to help create a shared vision.

The world missions network will be established as a 501(c)(3) affiliate to the Baptist General Convention of Texas. This status creates a close working relationship with the BGCT while providing the ability to respond quickly and effectively to rapidly developing global situations. The not-for-profit status enables the network to be recognized as a non-governmental organization (NGO), which in some countries allows broader access and acceptance.

The manner in which the board will be elected allows the BGCT to maintain strong influence and oversight, while providing broad representation. The BGCT can monitor ethnic and gender diversity and general qualifications of board members. The election process also will permit the board to include members on the basis of specific missions interest and expertise.

Responsibilities of the World Missions Network

Facilitation. The network will link individuals, churches and teams with unmet missions opportunities. The network will facilitate cooperation with Baptist bodies in other countries; offer practical assistance for churches; provide strategic funding; and link sources of funding with needs in cooperative missions efforts.

Missions Support. The network will provide the support and expertise necessary to enable Texas Baptists to accomplish their missions goals through catalytic efforts, resourcing and networking. This includes personnel only as strategy, needs and resources intersect, in Texas, the United States and across the world where Texas Baptists are deeply involved.

Training. The network will connect churches to training opportunities for short-term or long-term missions. This training for a broad spectrum of missions involvement will include cross-cultural training, family preparation, ministry skills, and specialized training for people who travel or live overseas.

Screening. The network can assist churches in determining whether people are spiritually and emotionally prepared for missions involvement.

Database. The network will establish a database of missions opportunities, resources and activities. This information will enable churches and individuals to find places of ministry, to determine where unique resources can be utilized, and to partner with similar ministries.

Research. The network will work with other Great Commission Christians to provide research on worldwide missions activity.

Education. In close cooperation with Texas WMU and Texas Baptist Men, the network will connect churches to missions education resources and activities for Baptists of all ages. The network will encourage and assist Baptist educational institutions in including missions information, training and practical experience in curricula and student life.

Missions Strategy. The network, out of its research, information and experience, will assist churches in developing cutting-edge missions strategies, both globally and locally.

Missions Sending Agencies: A Summary of Findings

Regarding the International Mission Board, SBC

The committee rejoices that lives are changed as missionaries and national Baptists around the world share the love of Christ and disciple new believers. The committee affirms the commitment of missionaries who faithfully follow God's leadership in their lives and Texas Baptists who participate in taking the gospel message to the ends of the earth through prayer, sacrificial giving and personal involvement in missions.

The success of Southern Baptist missions since 1845 is not measured by the number of missionaries appointed, nor by the amount of money given. Success is seen in the lives of people who have come to know Christ as Lord and Savior and have been discipled, and in the Baptist work begun in countries across the world. Success is seen in churches that have come together to form conventions and create their own institutions, including home and foreign mission boards for the continuation of the work.

The MRIC International Mission Board Subcommittee met six times. Meetings included a review of the six areas of concerns cited by the IMB subcommittee of the Missions Sending Agencies Study Committee and the IMB response, and discussions with IMB missionaries who were in active service, retired or recently resigned, and with IMB trustees.

2000 Baptist Faith & Message

On January 30, 2002, the IMB released a copy of a letter Dr. Rankin sent to all currently active missionaries asking them to sign an affirmation of the current Baptist Faith & Message. The IMB administrative team took this unilateral action "to unify the missionary force around a common and up-to-date doctrinal confession and dispel suspicions of missionaries that may not be doctrinally compatible with what Southern Baptists who send and support them have affirmed as our confession of faith."

Dr. Rankin explained:

[T]his issue has continued to generate controversy throughout the convention and suspicion regarding some related to Southern Baptists entities who may not be in agreement with what Southern Baptists have identified as the common confession of our faith. There are many who feel strongly that those being supported by the denomination should be willing to pledge affirmation and support for the current BF&M, especially those serving with the mission boards. Failure to ask for this affirmation is creating suspicion that there are IMB personnel whose beliefs and practices are inconsistent with those represented by Southern Baptists.

This contradicted what Dr. Rankin stated to missionaries at the Baptist Spanish Publishing House in El Paso in 1993: "As long as I am president of the IMB, no missionary will be obligated to sign a doctrinal statement." Dr. Rankin confirmed this was still his position in December 2000 when he wrote:

Baptists are not a creedal people. Asking people to sign the BF&M would make it a creed. No one is proposing that be done. And I stand by my statement made during my visit to El Paso, although it was probably unwise for me to make such as statement since I do not have the authority to prohibit our board from requiring it if they should so choose.

In January 2001, the IMB trustees made a unanimous decision with respect to the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message and the doctrinal accountability expected by the Southern Baptist Convention. News accounts from the SBC Baptist Press on the January 2001 meeting reported IMB trustees "strongly affirmed the agency’s missionaries and stateside staff members, saying their beliefs already have been adequately screened and that nothing more should be required of them."

The IMB president’s request to the active missionaries marked the first time in the mission board’s history that missionaries already under appointment, including many who had served 25 to 40 years, were asked to reaffirm their doctrinal beliefs "to protect you from charges of heresy behind your back while you are overseas and cannot defend yourself." Dr. Rankin stated in his letter, "Asking you to affirm the current BF&M has not been requested or required by the convention or our board of trustees, but our board is aware of this action and does commend and support it." He concluded by stating, "I cannot over emphasize how important your cooperation is in order for us to move forward in fulfilling the Great Commission."

In a follow-up letter to the missionaries, the IMB president stated, "It is important that we recognize that our sending and supporting churches have adopted this confession of faith and that we agree to work in accordance with what Southern Baptists believe." While the IMB is allowing missionaries to state their disagreement with the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, missionaries must nonetheless pledge to carry out their responsibilities "in accordance with and not contrary to" the Baptist Faith & Message as adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention.

After receiving Dr. Rankin’s letter, missionaries began to send e-mails to Texas Baptists and others filled with questions, concern and anguish about the future of their missionary service and their families if they failed to affirm the current Baptist Faith & Message. Texas Baptists expressed concern for missionaries who had responded to God's call to serve overseas and who were put in a dilemma of affirming the current Baptist Faith & Message in order to continue their commitment to God’s call or face an unknown future with the IMB.

The subcommittee met in a called meeting February 11, 2002, to consider a response to Dr. Rankin's letter to the missionaries. The MRIC held a called meeting on February 19-20 to discuss and draft a recommendation to the BGCT Executive Board. The committee felt a sense of urgency. Missionaries in the various regions were given different deadlines, some within six weeks, by which they were to submit their signed statements, but these missionaries received no clarification of what would happen if they did not return the signed form.

Some missionaries expressed that they felt their life support system and ability to care for their families was in jeopardy. The committee recognized that many current missionaries would sign because they are in agreement with the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message. Others might sign because of family and financial concerns or because they were nearing retirement and did not want to risk their retirement funding. Some would not sign and faced an unknown future.

The BGCT committed to support IMB missionaries in whatever decision they make and help those who resign and face a transition in their families and ministry. On February 20, 2002, the BGCT Executive Board approved the recommendation "to establish a missionary transition fund to meet some basic needs of these missionaries at this difficult time in their lives."

IMB New Directions Policy

New Directions was a reorganization of overseas structure implemented by the IMB in 1997. It gives the highest priority to a Church Planting Movement emphasizing the rapid multiplication of indigenous churches. While church planting has always been and will always remain one of the core tasks of missions, New Directions has been a primary cause for concern in two areas — (1) a distancing of the IMB from national conventions and (2) de-emphasizing missions work through institutions and human needs ministries.

IMB relationship to national Baptist conventions

Worldwide, national convention leaders report a disconnect and distancing of the IMB and national conventions. In meetings with national leaders in 2000, Dr. Rankin explained, "[O]ur mission task is quite narrow relative to all the programs and concerns of the national convention, and our partnership relates to only where our objectives converge."

Diminished support for institutions and human needs ministries

The IMB has withdrawn significant numbers of personnel and financial support on an accelerated and abrupt basis from hospitals, schools, seminaries and retreat centers. Leaders of national conventions indicated this often occurred before they were able to assume responsibility for these ministries. Sudden shifts in funding and personnel impact future strategy for expanding the work. The overriding priority of the IMB is given to planting as many churches as possible in as short an amount of time as possible.

Recommendations

The Missions Review and Initiatives Committee recommends:

That the Baptist General Convention of Texas affirm all Baptist missionaries and express gratitude for their commitment to follow God’s call upon their lives and appreciation for their service.

That the Baptist General Convention of Texas encourage Texas Baptist congregations and pastors to educate and nurture a vision of missions and the call to career missions.

That the Baptist General Convention of Texas continue to offer help in the transition of Southern Baptist missionaries who cannot, in good conscience, affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.

That the Baptist General Convention of Texas find ways to enable missionaries to serve who cannot, in good conscience, affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.

That the Baptist General Convention of Texas seek fraternal relations with Baptist conventions and unions in other countries for mutual growth and the extension of the Kingdom of God.

Rationale

The requirement to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message has created a crisis of conscience for many faithful missionaries. Some have resigned and returned home. Others have affirmed the statement under duress. Still others have not affirmed it and fear termination.

The requirement to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message seriously impacts Texas Baptists who are called or will be called to missions service. The IMB will not appoint those who are unwilling to prove "denominational loyalty" by affirming the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.

The 2000 Baptist Faith & Message disqualifies women from serving as pastors of churches. In many nations, Baptists find it biblically acceptable for women to serve as pastors, and consider it essential to church planting and development. Baptist women historically have served in all roles of Christian missions.

Regarding Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions Subcommittee met with officials of the fellowship, reviewed the mission activities of the CBF, and met with various BGCT section heads in order to review the work currently being conducted in Texas and with Texas churches and individuals.

It would not be a full report if the subcommittee failed to acknowledge that there are certain political facets of the relationship of the CBF with various Baptist bodies. The committee conducted this review and monitoring to objectively seek the commitment and opportunities the CBF may provide to Texas Baptists in the strong pursuit of sharing Christ and His love.

The BGCT does not have a formal cooperative agreement with the CBF, so the subcommittee examined the structure and relationships through which the CBF functions in Texas. CBF seeks to partner with groups, associations, churches or individuals who share their missions commitment and who will work with them. CBF already has a variety of relationships in the state of Texas among associations and churches.

The subcommittee met with Daniel Vestal, executive director of the CBF, in Dallas to learn about CBF missions outreach and vision. He said that CBF seeks to be a conduit for churches and Christians to share the reconciliation and redemption through Christ. CBF’s commitment is two-fold: (1) to evangelize and (2) to meet physical human needs.

The subcommittee met with CBF missionaries in order to view their processes of missions recruitment, missions assignment and missions approach, as well as factors used in measuring their missions progress. The subcommittee thoroughly reviewed the missionary application process, the standards used for monitoring and evaluating missionaries, the church start efforts in the field, and the financial resources provided to missionaries.

A member of the subcommittee also attended the CBF General Assembly in order to participate in missions workshops. At those workshops, the CBF Global Missions Strategy was discussed in terms of the CBF’s attempt to share Christ by planting churches and meeting human needs among those who are overlooked by society, marginalized, living within the inner cities and living in the poorest of countries.

The CBF partners with several entities. Any partnership or cooperative effort is centered first and foremost on the sharing of Christ’s love and the saving message of the gospel.

The subcommittee also reviewed the efforts of Texas Baptist groups and agencies currently working with the CBF. For example, Buckner Baptist Benevolences partners with CBF in the Rio Grande Valley to take the gospel to some of the poorest areas in the United States, and to enhance the lives of people by providing food, clothing and health care. Funds from the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger, administered and promoted by the BGCT Christian Life Commission, have helped to fund a variety of projects in partnership with CBF missionaries including: meals for Gypsy children at a school in Bucharest, Romania; a ministry to street children in Nairobi, Kenya; and an agricultural development and water project among the Bedouin people of the Middle East.

Recommendation

The Missions Review and Initiatives Committee recommends:

That the Baptist General Convention of Texas continue to work on specific missions projects with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, without entering into a formal relationship.

Regarding the North American Mission Board, SBC

Current and previous relationships with the North American Mission Board and its predecessor, the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, have encouraged Texas Baptist priorities in church planting and evangelism. The BGCT’s long-standing partnership of missions and ministry with the Home Mission Board, and more recently NAMB, has been effective in reaching people, starting churches and launching other mission efforts in Texas and North America.

The MRIC North American Mission Board Subcommittee met four times to review the relationship between the BGCT and NAMB. Discussions focused largely on the development of a new Cooperative Agreement between the BGCT and NAMB, chaplaincy, the District of Columbia Baptist Convention and the requirement that NAMB missionaries affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.

The NAMB subcommittee began its work with a review of the Missions Sending Agencies Study Committee Report. Under recommendation two of that report, the NAMB subcommittee listed six concerns related to the relationship between the BGCT and NAMB. The subcommittee reviewed all six concerns and determined that five of the six concerns would be resolved by establishing a new cooperative agreement with NAMB. The sixth concern was resolved with the creation of a BGCT office of chaplaincy endorsement. However, other issues arose during subcommittee study.

BGCT/NAMB Cooperative Agreement

The committee reviewed a proposed Cooperative Agreement between NAMB and the BGCT. The MRIC NAMB subcommittee endorsed a final draft of a Cooperative Agreement on August 1, 2002.

Chaplaincy

The committee is concerned that NAMB refuses to endorse ordained women as chaplains. This denies Southern Baptists a way of influencing many people to trust our Lord as Savior. The U. S. Department of Defense, the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Veterans Administration employ only chaplains endorsed by an officially recognized "ecclesiastical endorsing organization." According to United States Department of Defense policy, a person seeking employment as a military chaplain must be "professionally qualified as clergy and endorsed for the military chaplaincy." NAMB, based on its current policy, denies endorsement to ordained women. Women are a significant part of chaplaincy ministry in the United States military. Ordained chaplains include Colonel Janet Horton, director of the Office of Armed Forces Chaplains Board; Major General Lorraine Potter, a Baptist, Air Force Chief of Chaplains; and Chaplain Jeni Cook, a former Texas Baptist, director of Chaplain Service, Department of Veterans Affairs.

District of Columbia Baptist Convention

The Missions Review and Initiatives Committee hereby indicates grave concern related to NAMB’s decision to terminate its Cooperative Agreement with the District of Columbia Baptist Convention effective June 30, 2003. NAMB not only sought to control the editorial positions of the District of Columbia Baptist Convention state paper, but also made continued financial support contingent upon placing a mission board employee on the District of Columbia Baptist Convention staff who would have supervised all jointly funded personnel and guided programs receiving NAMB funding. This would have required the District of Columbia Baptist Convention to surrender its autonomy, and would have restricted its ability to select and supervise its own personnel and carry out its local missions vision. This abandonment of cooperative missions effort represents a limitation of Southern Baptist evangelism and church starting in the heart of our national government. The timing of this action seems particularly inappropriate considering information recently published by NAMB:

There are 35 African-American, 3 Hispanic, and one Asian congregation in the District of Columbia Baptist Convention that need assistance and encouragement of Southern Baptists.

There are 600,000 people who live in Washington DC. This is greater than the total population of Wyoming. This does not include the thousands of people influenced by the churches in the Washington suburban areas.

The District of Columbia Baptist Convention grew in number of congregations by more than 70 percent in the past decade.

The increase in the number of congregations affiliated with the District of Columbia Baptist Convention reduced the church to population ratio from one church to 20,928 persons to one church to less than 11,600 persons.

Resident membership in churches affiliated with the District of Columbia Baptist Convention rose from 12,013 to 23,848. This reduced the population to church resident membership from 50.5 percent to 24.4 percent.

These facts demonstrate that the District of Columbia Baptist Convention does a remarkable job of penetrating its culture with the gospel. Support from NAMB has been influential in this decade of remarkable growth. Therefore, it does not seem prudent for Southern Baptists to abandon the District of Columbia Baptist Convention.

2000 Baptist Faith & Message

The Missions Review and Initiatives Committee regrets the action taken on February 6, 2002 by NAMB requiring "fully-funded" missionaries to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message. This requirement forces missionaries who are faithful to God’s Word to submit to a man-made creed. The committee is aware of one "fully-funded" missionary who has been asked to resign because he refused to sign a statement that he agreed with the 2000 Baptist Faith& Message would conduct his ministry in accordance with that statement.

Currently, all persons entering the process of appointment as NAMB missionaries must affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message. The committee is concerned that jointly funded missionaries (missionaries funded by both NAMB and BGCT or other Texas Baptist institutions) will be asked to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message. Mike Day, vice president of organizational development at NAMB, said that NAMB/BGCT missionaries who are jointly appointed would not have to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message in order to continue serving as appointed missionaries. However, since NAMB has made these kinds of statements related to other missionaries and rescinded them, the committee expresses concern over the unstable and uncertain future of tenured jointly appointed missionaries in Texas and North America.

Recommendations

The Missions Review and Initiatives Committee recommends:

That the 2002 Cooperative Agreement between the North American Mission Board and the Baptist General Convention of Texas be adopted.

That Texas Baptist churches pray for the District of Columbia Baptist Convention and its valiant efforts to win people to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and minister to the needs of those who live in the nation’s capitol.

That the Baptist General Convention of Texas urge the North American Mission Board to reconsider its action regarding the District of Columbia Baptist Convention and that NAMB take strategic action that will enable it to work with the District of Columbia Baptist Convention in ways that will advance the cause of Christ.

That the Baptist General Convention of Texas encourage churches to express their obedience to the Great Commission through prayer, sacrificial giving and active participation in missions.

Conclusion

The Baptist General Convention of Texas acknowledges, encourages and affirms the good things being done by Baptists in churches, associations, unions and conventions in the United States and around the world. Texas Baptists rejoice in those endeavors. Through the recommended initiatives in this report, the Baptist General Convention of Texas can provide avenues for Texas Baptists to serve shoulder-to-shoulder with their brothers and sisters across the globe, laboring with them to share the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ and minister to hurting humanity in Christ’s name.

This report calls Texas Baptists to move forward. Texas Baptists want to find ways for their churches to touch people wherever there is a need they can meet. The proposed initiatives can help to link the missions passion and energy of Texas Baptists with the urgent needs of a spiritually hungry world. Now is the time for the Baptist General Convention of Texas to take a bold step forward. Now is the time to build bridges between Texas Baptist churches and missional Baptists throughout the United States and the world.

Summary of Recommendations

The Missions Review and Initiatives Committee recommends:

That a world missions network be established to help churches, associations, institutions and individuals fulfill their missions calling through both short-term and long-term missions endeavors across the United States and the world.

That this world missions network connect churches, associations, institutions and individuals to available missions research, education, information, facilitation, training, screening, strategy development and support.

That this world missions network, like other existing Texas Baptist entities, be established as a not-for-profit [501(c)(3)] affiliate of the Baptist General Convention of Texas with a permanent, strong connection to the BGCT, and that the director of the network serve on the BGCT Leadership Council.

That this world missions network be governed by a 32-member rotating board, all of whom are Baptists; and that the BGCT elect through the Committee on Nominations for Institution Boards three-fourths of the board members and the board choose one-fourth.

That the initial board of this world missions network be chosen by the president of the convention, the chair of the BGCT Executive Board, the chair of the Administrative Committee, the chair of the Missions Review and Initiatives Committee, the president of Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas, the president of Texas Baptist Men and the executive director of the BGCT.

That this world missions network establish an advisory council to bring together missions experts and representatives of Baptist conventions from across the world on a regular basis to work on further missions endeavors, and that the executive directors of the BGCT, Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas and Texas Baptist Men serve on the advisory council.

That the Baptist General Convention of Texas affirm all Baptist missionaries and express gratitude for their commitment to follow God’s call upon their lives and appreciation for their service.

That the Baptist General Convention of Texas encourage Texas Baptist congregations and pastors to educate and nurture a vision of missions and the call to career missions.

That the Baptist General Convention of Texas continue to offer help in the transition of Southern Baptist missionaries who cannot, in good conscience, affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.

That the Baptist General Convention of Texas find ways to enable missionaries to serve who cannot, in good conscience, affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.

That the Baptist General Convention of Texas seek fraternal relations with Baptist conventions and unions in other countries for mutual growth and the extension of the Kingdom of God.

That the Baptist General Convention of Texas continue to work on specific missions projects with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, without entering into a formal relationship.

That the 2002 Cooperative Agreement between the North American Mission Board and the Baptist General Convention of Texas be adopted.

That Texas Baptist churches pray for the District of Columbia Baptist Convention and its valiant efforts to win people to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and minister to the needs of those who live in the nation’s capitol.

That the Baptist General Convention of Texas urge the North American Mission Board to reconsider its action regarding the District of Columbia Baptist Convention and that NAMB take strategic action that will enable it to work with the District of Columbia Baptist Convention in ways that will advance the cause of Christ.

That the Baptist General Convention of Texas encourage churches to express their obedience to the Great Commission through prayer, sacrificial giving and active participation in missions.

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