My first experience with missions was at a very young age. Dad was pastoring the Oak Grove General Baptist Church in Oakland City, Indiana. Once a month, our Wednesday Night children’s group participated in a program called Guild, which later was renamed Youth for Missions. We learned about all the various missionaries serving our denomination. We were taught about the countries the missionaries served and researched the differences between the numerous cultures being encountered on the mission fields. It was interesting to discover what the missionaries were accomplishing, and the variety of talents being used for the Kingdom of God. We studied nurses providing medical care to people with little exposure to healthcare. We read about educators teaching at the General Baptist Bible College in the Philippines and nurturing individuals providing a good home environment for orphans in Jamaica. I was amazed by how God equipped ordinary people with talents that could be used for his glory.
Missions continue to impact my life as an adult. I went on my first mission trip during the summer of 2011. To say the least, it was a life-changing event. While on that trip, God laid on my heart a desire to lead mission trips, so that others could encounter the same experience I had. It is amazing how your perspective is transformed through involvement with new cultures and surroundings. When you are removed from the comforts of your hometown, you are faced with language barriers and cultural differences that oftentimes leave you feeling inadequate. During those times God reveals how much we need him, not just on mission trips, but every day of our lives.
A few years ago, one of our teams chose to do a Vacation Bible School at Bethel General Baptist in Honduras. As with anything in life when you begin a new project, things do not always go as planned. First, I had never led a VBS in a cross-cultural setting. One of the major obstacles in a project like this is the language barrier. This hurdle seemed like an insurmountable task, but God placed knowledgeable people in our path and provided the tools to overcome this challenge. Next, we prepared snacks and craft material for about 60 children. All these arrangements were in keeping with our initial budget. A week before we left, we found out 100 more children would be in attendance. The team prayed about our “wonderful” problem and God provided for every need.
Honestly, there have been times I did not want to leave family and journey on another mission trip. There have been times when I feared for the health and safety of others. I have often dreaded riding on a bus due to issues with car sickness. I have even felt overwhelmed by the jobs we have signed up to do, but God has given responsibilities like these to all of us at some point in life. When all these doubts and fears enter my mind, I find peace in knowing God always provides for his laborers. He does not always call the equipped to serve, but he always equips those he calls.
MOVING TOWARD RESTRUCTURE OF GENERAL BAPTIST MINISTRIES
In April 2019, the Executive Council of the Council of Associations (the functional board of directors for the organization), created a task force to study possible restructure of all General Baptist ministries.
The group was asked to evaluate the current structure of the Council of Associations, to develop a system and strategy to move us forward and to make recommendations to the Executive Council to implement a new system.
EVALUATION AND RESULTING VALUES
As part of the evaluation process, the Restructure Task Force (RTF) held several meetings between August 2019 and January 2020. In that time, initial data was collected and reviewed. A series of listening sessions were also held in February and March 2020 to gain additional feedback from across the movement. The data was joined with previously gathered information and the outcomes of the conversations of the RTF to develop a list of perceived issues and values to be addressed through the restructuring process.
The RTF, therefore, focused on the following values in the development of a new structure:
Empowered Leadership—Clear understanding of who is empowered to lead.
A Clear and Flexible Structure—A structure that is clear to communicate and easy to adjust over time as circumstances demand.
Missional Accountability—The ability to point every we do back to the mission and vision of the organization.
Cultural Adaptability—The understanding that what we do must be able to adapt to different regional cultures to be an effective national and global movement.
THE PROPOSED NEW STRUCTURE
To address the perceived issues and values, the RTF proposed a new structure to the Executive Council in October 2020. The new structure is designed to provide a flow of leadership, implementation, partnership, and accountability. These four circles become a cycle through which the organization functions effectively.
The first circle in the proposed system is Leadership.
The restructure of the current leadership model is designed to accomplish the goals of empowered leadership, missional accountability, and a clear and flexible structure. The title of Executive Director is changed to President, to clarify the leadership and authority of the office. The President would be the organization’s visionary leader empowered as the chief decision-making authority for all day-to-day operations.
The operations would then be implemented through vice presidents of departments that align around the organization’s mission. In response to the needs of struggling congregations, Congregational Ministries is refocused, given a more specific role, and given a new name of Church Revitalization. To reflect the nature of our movement’s reach around the world, International Missions will also be retitled Global Missions.
The Institutional Ministries (e.g., GBIF, OaklandCity University, Stinson Press) that exist to aid, assist, and support the core ministries of the organization will have the same relationship in the new structure. Women’s Ministries will become an Institutional Ministry rather than be classified as a Support Ministry.
The second circle is Implementation.
To accomplish the goals of empowered leadership and cultural adaptability, a new level of support staff is proposed in a regional ministry model (regions will be explained below under Partnership). The proposed additions will allow for ministry to be implemented at a grassroots level rather than solely out of a national office. The multiple support staff in each region would be specialists and champions of the organization’s missional areas. These specialists would be supervised by a coordinator in each region who implements the organization’s strategic plan developed by and in coordination with the departmental vice presidents. All of the regional coordinators would be report directly to a newly created position of Vice President for Regional Ministries.
The third circle is Partnership.
The regional ministries divide the movement into regions to accomplish cultural adaptability and provide a clear and flexible structure. The RTF has suggested that we begin with seven (7) total regions—five (5) in the United States and two (2) international.
The various regions will allow for better communication for a global movement through not only regional support services but also regional Summit meetings. Churches would be placed into these regions based upon geography for services and support. RTF has intentionally not touched the workings of the local associations. The regions will exist without reference to associations. For example, some associations are less regional and could potentially have churches in multiple regions. The exact divisions of the regions would be left to the President and a Board of Overseersto determine to provide the most effective services to each region.
The fourth and final circle of the new structure is Accountability.
The restructure of the current governing model can accomplish the goals of empowered leadership, missional accountability, and a clear and flexible structure. The proposal includes a fourteen (14) person Board of Overseers who keep the President accountable, approve the operating budget, and evaluate and approve the annual strategic plan. Each region would elect two (2) overseers for four (4)year terms offset every two (2) years. Overseers would be selected by partner churches at newly established regional Summit meetings.
The Actions of the Executive Council and the Council of Associations
When the RTF made its report to the Executive Council in October, the Executive Council took action to begin moving toward the new proposed structure. The following actions were taken by unanimous vote:
Per the Council of Associations Bylaws, Article6, the Executive Council directed the Personnel Committee to temporarily consolidate the Congregational Ministries department into the office of the Executive Director. This action allows the Executive Director to begin transitioning resources from the Congregational Ministries department into the more specific Church Revitalization department and absorb some of the other duties into the office of the Executive Director.
Per the C/A Bylaws, Article 6, the Executive Council recommended that the Council of Associations establish a Regional Ministries department and a Church Revitalization department to be approved at the next meeting of the General Association in July 2021.
The Executive Council instructed the RTF to bring recommended changes to the constitutions and bylaws of the Council of Associations and the General Association to the May meeting of the Council of Associations to fulfill the proposed model. At the November meeting of the Council of Associations, the RTF also made a presentation of its findings. The Council of Associations took the following actions by unanimous vote:
The Council of Associations established a Regional Ministries department and a Church Revitalization department to be approved at the July 2021 meeting of the General Association.
The Council of Associations endorsed the executive Council’s instructions to the RTF to bring recommended changes to the constitutions and bylaws of the Council of Associations and the General Association to the May meeting of the Council of Associations to fulfill the proposed model.
Next Steps
The RTF has begun work to complete the task of revising the constitutions and bylaws of the two bodies and will be prepared to make the recommendations for those changes to the Council of Associations in May. The RTF also plans to present the documents to the Executive Council at its March meeting and to present the documents to the larger General Baptist family for input before the Council of Associations’ meeting in May.
The following items are planned for the agenda of the General Association meeting in July 2021 for approval:
Permanent creation of the Regional Ministries department and the Church Revitalization department.
Approval of changes to the constitution and bylaws of the Council of Associations.
The first vote on approval of the changes to the Constitution and Bylaws of the General Association (those changes would not become final until a second vote at the 2022 General Association meeting).
As opportunities arise for you to provide input on the reorganization, you are encouraged to participate. Please be in prayer for General Baptists as we move through these transitions!
By Danny Dunivan, Interim Executive Director & Moderator of the 2021 Mission and Ministry Summit
Where does mission come from? I am not asking about where we get the idea to do missions like those we undertake in other countries through International Missions or when we plant a new church in a community in the United States through National Missions. I am talking about the larger idea of mission, the very reason the church exists.
The word mission comes from the Latin word meaning “to send.” Literally, a mission is a sending. Scripture uses this idea of sending over and over. The entire life of the church is wrapped up in God’s commission sending us to go and make disciples for our Lord. However, scripture is also very clear that this sending of the church, in other words, the church’s mission does not start with the church. Before it is ever a commission to the church, the mission is God’s mission. Before the mission was ever related to the activities of the church, it was an attribute of God. God is a missionary God. In fact, the gift of the Son and the sending of the Holy Spirit are a result of the very nature of God as missionary. Mission is the movement of God toward the world, and the church is an instrument of that mission. In his classic book on missiology, David Bosch says, “There is church because there is mission, not vice versa. To participate in mission is to participate in the movement of God’s love toward people, since God is a fountain of sending love.”
Therefore, the short answer to the question about the source of the mission is that mission comes from God. God is the one who determines it. It is God’s mission before we ever think about it. We do not go under our own authority. We have nothing to do except in concert with what God is doing. We have no ministry apart from God’s ministry. We have no message apart from God’s message. The church has no reason to exist apart from what God is doing through us as he sends us into the world to fulfill his command. The mission is God’s, but thanks be to God we get to go along for the ride!
The nature of mission leads us to the undeniable truth that God never sends us where God is not already working. We never enter a place where God has not going ahead of us. Remember it is first his mission. That is what we mean by saying that we are called. We are called to join God. God is already present inviting us to come along! Like Jesus walking on the water calling Peter out of the boat to come walk on the waves, God calls us to join him in his mission in the world. He beckons to us to step out of the boat. I find it ironic that the calling of the church is also the sending of the church. They are one and the same, because the God who sends is already present and active calling us to join him in the place where he sends us on mission. Amazingly, along the way we find that the mission God invites us to join leads us to be who we were born to be! It is for his glory, but it is also for our good!
At this year’s Mission and Ministry Summit in Owensboro, Kentucky, on July 26-28, we will focus on the theme “Called.” We will be challenged to fulfill our calling to join God in what he is doing in the world in our families, in our communities, and around the world. At this event, you will be challenged to fulfill God’s call by keynote speakers and breakout sessions. This year’s Summit will also feature an important business session where we will be making decisions about God’s calling on General Baptists into the next generation.
I hope that you will begin to pray for our Summit gathering now, and you will make plans to join us in Owensboro this summer!
