I associate with a group of Churches known as The American Baptist Association.....recently my dad wrote a blog on his website http://www.goxstream.org/ about our missionary efforts and I thought I would share what he wrote.
"It was recently reported that over 13,000 souls have been saved in the collective work of our missionaries. This is worth shouting about!However, without dampening the spirit of this wonderful report, we must ask the question, "why have there only been 14 new works started in six months on the foreign field and only 6 new works on the home front so far?" There is something very ominous about this.
Now, I do understand that you can't get everybody baptized that gets saved, and everybody that gets baptized doesn't necessarily end up in church or part of a new church. But if only half of these people ended up in church or a new church there would have been significant church increase and new works being started and it would have been widely reported. But there hasn't been that I can tell.
What's going on? Can someone answer my question? Maybe I'm missing something.With 13,000 plus having been saved we should have heard of dozens if not hundreds of new churches being started. Someone enlighten me?"
I had never thought about it before but the statistics are taken from the 120 or so missionaries recommended by the churches of the association. If you divide 13,000 by the 120 missionaries you get approximately 110 professions per missionary. I agree with my dad ......why aren't we seeing more missions and churches started? What is even more stunning is that many of the new 20 missions and churches started globally in our work are done by the unrecommended missionary force......that larger group of forgotten missionaries that are sponsored by ABA churches that do not go through the recommending process and are never recognized at the "Meetin' ".
I am in full support of the ABA but sometimes we have to take a hard look at what is being done and ask ourselves.....What is really going on?
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5 comments:
It's going to take a lot more people stepping up that are like you and your dad before the "establishment" does anything about this enigma. But also, let me ask you this: "If something's broke beyond repair, why not throw it away (or leave it) and move on to new and better things?"
I don't think its broke beyond repair unlike many......If all the guys that knew something needed to be done had stayed around or in the ministry over the years things would be different. There are alot of positives!
We may help balance it out, looks like we will have organized a church with none being saved yet.
Jonathon, I have a burden for church planting and am currently working through the church planter toolkit. What I find really bothersome to me is all this talk about nobody doing anything but when someone is interested we tell them to finish seminary first. Well, in my case that will be forever and a day but what I see is a need for an organization that has a very simplistic training program to get those with a conviction, trained and on the field. I am in no way knocking Seminary Training. I am simply saying that IF there is this uge burden to get churches planted we need someone to step up to the plate and simplify the process. When your Dad wrote the first article (the first one I read anyway) about planting 100 churches in 2007 I mentioned that I was convicted and would like to be one of the 100. I was told to go to seminary first. Again, I am not knocking seminary but I am hungry (not physically speaking) right now. By the time I am here forever I may have lost the hunger to plant churches and just be interested in pastoring one. I want to be busy doing what God called me to do NOW not in years. I also think that within an organization that would train church planters there should be funding to an extent. I am not talking where we put someone on salary forever. I am talking that we pay them a salary for say two years and then maybe it goes to half, then maybe after another couple of years it goes to $0. I am not talking some big salary where he can relax and do nothing but one that might pay bills or maybe not even quite pay bills but where he could work in the community if needed. Maybe $2000 a month and then down to $1000 a month then to $0. This would create a greater sense of urgency. Also it could be required that the new church start paying it back as soon as they are able so there would be funds for the next person. I think this is where we drop the ball. Each church planter should committ to the ABA Doctrinal statement and be allowed to use the money in any way needed to get the church up and running whether it be to pay their own salary or to pay other staff as well or whatever. The emphasis should be on building the church and NOT THE BUILDING! They can worry about the building when they are standing on their own feet.
I would start this organization myself but am still in seminary and am not sure how to go about that ... If anyone has any suggestions Please let me know.
John Skipworth
skippypreacherman@yahoo.com
How many of us are out there that would be willing to form a "Church Planting Fellowship"? There is a need for forming something like this and still stay within our own associated work without abandoning our brothers. I'd be willing to start this if there were others who would join me. I need to hear from you guys in the blogosphere.
David P Smith
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