June 2010 Press Toward the Mark

            Southern Baptists cooperate to obey the Great Commission of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Since the inception of the Cooperative Mission Program in 1925, Southern Baptist mission work and support have experienced tremendous success and effectiveness.

We have witness greater results and effectiveness by working together rather than apart.  Agreement on basic theology, polity, and missiology coupled with our Cooperative Mission Program have provided a stable missions delivery system that has been fueled by a passion to reach lost people for Christ in obedience to His Great Commission.

            However, our annual church profile reports over the last several years reflect a downward trend in baptisms. Admittedly, the lack of reporting by churches has contributed to this trend.  Even so, growth in baptisms and church membership is not matching the growth in the population of the United States.

This trend contributed to the creation of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force of the Southern Baptist Convention.  This committee’s preliminary report presented the need for a renewal movement that will result in passion to reach the lost.  Earlier generations of Southern Baptists demonstrated such a passion for the lost and obedience to the Great Commission.  They prayed for the lost, witnessed to people daily, tithed through their local church, and gave sacrificially to worldwide missions.  I commend the committee for calling us to engage our Lord’s Great Commission with such passion and commitment.

Messengers to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando, Florida June 15-16, 2010 will vote on the final report to be released in May.  The Great Commission Resurgence Task Force committee has listened to many Southern Baptists since the release of its preliminary report.  Many have encouraged them to strengthen their recommendation on our Cooperative Mission Program as the main funding mechanism for our cooperative missions.  It has enabled Southern Baptists to maximize mission support and avoid societal giving.  The Cooperative Mission Program has benefited Mission Ohio greatly.

Mission Ohio has also benefited greatly from the partnership with the North American Mission Board and its predecessor the Home Mission Board. Currently, all 16 Mission Ohio Associational Missionaries, four Baptist Collegiate Ministry directors, and five Church and Community Ministry directors are North American Mission Board missionaries.  These missionaries are joint missionaries of the North American Mission Board, a local association, and the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio.  Additionally, eight state staff are North American Mission Board and State Convention of Baptists in Ohio missionaries.

It appears that one of the preliminary recommendations of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force will change this arrangement.  Apparently, the North American Mission Board would appoint, support, supervise, and place its missionaries directly rather that in cooperative mission strategies of the present.  This would radically affect the missionary personnel in Ohio.  Great Commission Resurgence Task Force committee members expressed in a press conference that they disbelieve this change will replicate the redundancy, confusion, and waste that overlapping mission agencies experienced prior to the origin of cooperative agreements.

Messengers to the June 15-16, 2010 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando, Florida will vote on the recommendations of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force.  Trustees for each Southern Baptist agency must approve any changes for their respective agency. 

We are grateful for all the assistance that Southern Baptists have provided in helping us reach our state for Christ.  Whatever Southern Baptists do in Orlando, we are still responsible for Ohio.  Mission Ohio is our cooperative effort to reach at least 1,000,000 believers in 2,020 congregations by the end of 2020. Let’s press toward that mark.