A Culture-Challenged People
The last forty years, especially, have been years of enormous change in the American culture as well as the cultures of many other countries. The changes have not been favorable to Christianity and anti-Christian values have increasingly dominated society. These changes make more difficult the advance of Christianity and challenge the values of the churches and their members. This has affected the support of missions in ways that might never have been anticipated. As an example, these changes have lessened the strength of the women’s missionary movement in the lives of many of the churches. Other long-standing church-based organizations, such as the Brotherhood, Training Union and even the Sunday school have suffered in the wake of massive cultural change in the nation. Substitute efforts come about, but often fall short of what the churches most need.
The missions’ cause has continued to flourish, but in other ways. Greatest among these has been the growing practice of churches to send their members on mission teams to other nations and to other communities in the USA. Churches are learning about missions on the mission field itself—made possible by low-cost air travel and American prosperity. This has given rise of many small missions organizations headed by the churches or by some of their members. Much good has come from this, but we must also acknowledge that many such efforts are on the level of projects and are weak in any strategy to win nations to Christ. SBC’s International Mission Board” has largely withdrawn its resources from many of the nations where it planted Baptist work in order to dedicate its primary efforts to harder-to-reach people groups. These are groups that would probably never hear the gospel or be touched by most grass-roots missionary efforts originating in the churches.
Southern Baptists have an enormous influence on the cause of world missions. In addition to their own efforts, they have inspired and contributed heavily to many non-denominational efforts. Many of these are strong promoters of the gospel while others gradually drift into social welfare programs that are only marginally Christian in name and emphases. Southern Baptist churches also have often sent their missions teams to groups of other denominations, including those that have little in common with Southern Baptists in terms of faith and practice.
We conclude that there remain powerful reasons to vigorously support the International Mission Board and its domestic equivalent, the North American Mission Board in their strategic world and national missions efforts. State conventions and associations also are helpfully entering mission fields of the world with special projects. Many churches also seek to engage in mission efforts on promising mission fields where denominational help is no longer available. Direct church involvement on mission fields can do much to vitalize the church at home. This should be done responsibly, not simply for the spiritual satisfaction of their volunteers but even more for the spiritual transformation of the communities and nations to which they send them.
