Baptist Missions Strategy 2011-2015
Introduction
Irish Baptists formed the Irish Baptist Foreign Mission (IBFM) in 1924 as a mission with an
unshakeable confidence in God’s word and as a vehicle for churches across Ireland to co-operate
together in mission. The uncertain period of 1920s Ireland and the lack of any identifiable mission
field or personnel did not deter 43 small churches from giving financial support to the creation of the
IBFM.
Since then, as conditions and needs have changed, so has the Mission. Until 1977 the work in Ireland
was known as the Irish Baptist Home Mission. This then merged with the IBFM to form ‘Baptist
Missions’. New approaches have been developed to meet the demands of witness in a changing
world. Today’s generation has experienced unprecedented change and the old patterns of mission
“from the West to the rest” have gone. The majority evangelical church is now in the Southern
Hemisphere with more missionaries being sent from traditional ‘receiving countries’ than from
Europe and N. America.
We believe it is time once again to ask what role Irish Baptists should play in world mission.
Undoubtedly, the answer will be influenced by our confidence in the word of God and our
commitment to work together in mission. We believe that such convictions flow from dependence
on God rather than self-confidence in our own plans. We invite you therefore to examine this
presentation of Baptist Missions, with its perspectives on the next 3 to 5 years. We encourage you to
test it against the word of God as our final authority and its relevance to the world around us, as the
generation we must reach.
As Baptists in Ireland, we look back beyond our own history to William Carey, the founder of the
Baptist Missionary Society, who was born exactly 250 years ago, and repeat his motto to “attempt
great things [for God] and expect great things [from God].”
Our Mission – to follow Christ’s command to go and make disciples
Our Vision – to glorify God by seeing Baptist Churches planted in Ireland, France, Spain and Peru,
that extend the Kingdom of God and build up the body of Christ.
Our Values
CHURCH: working in partnership with individual sending churches and accountable to the
Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland.
BIBLE: being directed by biblical principles and committed to keeping its powerful message
central.
PEOPLE: training and supporting people who are called and gifted by God.
GOSPEL: being driven by a passion to bring the whole gospel to all of humanity.
DEPENDENCE: on the Holy Spirit in everything we do and on Irish Baptists for prayer support
and the release of necessary financial resources.
Ireland Focus
The future for BM in Ireland will be planting churches, through partnerships with others. The
experience gained over recent decades gives us solid reasons for working with well-resourced
churches and with small scattered churches. During the past 10 years six churches from the Republic
of Ireland have been added to the Association through the work of BM.
Our aims:
-to replicate the Cork/Kerry Project model wherever churches will work together – especially in
locations with limited or no witness.
-to add other strategic locations to the existing list of places in East Cork, Kinsale, Nenagh, Galway,
South Armagh, Ards Peninsula and Belfast.
-to support and resource evangelism where we cannot provide workers, e.g. establishing a fund for
ministry grants.
-to encourage long-term church planters to stay with BM and strive for excellence as they remain
focussed on mission.
-to encourage partner missions (currently Crossworld, ABWE and Worldventure) to recruit suitable
cross-cultural missionaries for at least 3 new church-planting teams.
Europe focus
In France and Spain we will continue to send missionaries under established agreements to pioneer
new church plants and train local leaders. New opportunities in France are opening up. Similarly in
Spain we see unreached towns around Algeciras where teams could share the gospel in communities
without an existing Christian witness.
Our aims
-to promote France as a realistic place for church planting and present the necessary training to
equip people for effective ministry. We will raise awareness through deputation, existing media
(Missionline and Insight) and through exploratory teams.
-to renew partnership links with the French Baptist Association and reassess the viability of joint
mission ventures as we see workers responding to a call of God to France.
-to recruit short-term teams for Spain, serving with Spanish volunteers, who will move into the
existing population centres around Algeciras and seek to establish a viable witness.
-to branch out from the role of nurturing young or struggling churches and place greater emphases
on pioneering new church-plants and training Spanish workers.
-to provide help where possible in Russian-speaking training centres as they equip mission and
church leaders.
Peru focus
The priorities in South Peru continue to be making disciples of Jesus Christ and seeing churches
established. During the past year we have been particularly encouraged by the Lord drawing so
many people to himself through our witness in Peru. The current shift is from a missionary-directed
work to a Peruvian partnership. In order to achieve this we believe more workers are needed from
Ireland with the gifts of training and encouragement.
Our aims –
-to develop the Tacna Seminary with a team of teachers under Peruvian leadership who have a
passion for God’s glory and are committed to the right handling of God’s Word and the spiritual
edification that follows. The courses (modelled on IBC ‘Preparation for Ministry’ approach) will
provide the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential to sustain a lifetime of local ministry.
-to complete the formation of a Peruvian Baptist Association with devolved responsibility for its
member churches and a mission mandate to extend the work throughout South Peru.
-to provide high quality Christian Radio broadcasts, Camp and Conference programmes and to
harness the experience of multicultural teams to spearhead our evangelism and equip evangelical
churches in their witness.
Governance
As part of good practice, and in the general spirit of governance, it is important to set out the
arrangements presently in place in two areas of the work of Baptist Missions, i.e. finance and risk
management.
Finance – although day to day financial arrangements are provided by the Association, the annual
budget is agreed by the Churches Council on behalf of BM. In addition, with the appointment of an
honorary treasurer two years ago, regular financial reports are prepared and presented for
committees and Association finance staff to discuss and agree issues of common concern. This has
helped strengthen BM financial management, with the BM Director expected to manage finances at
operational level and control these where this is feasible. The BM Director is unable to control
currency fluctuations but should be alert to their existence. These approaches should give more
confidence in the management of BM financial matters.
Risk management - we have taken steps to identify some key risk areas and to manage/minimise
these, where possible. Accordingly, over the past year, policies and protocols to manage issues such
as personal safety, lone working, management of volunteers, child safety guidelines and other good
practice as befits a caring employer, have been introduced. As the need arises, the Management
Committee will consider the introduction of other new policies and procedures to manage areas of
risk.
We need Your Feedback
“Working together… Changing Live’ is the BM motto.
In order to serve together in mission from Irish Baptist Churches we need each other. Of course we
depend on your prayers and financial support, but without your engagement and insight it will cease
to be your mission – that is what we are asking for in this draft strategy document. There are several
ways we would encourage you to respond: write to ‘BM Strategy’ with your comments and
questions; attend a ‘Mission Forum’ meeting this Autumn (details to follow), or complete an on-line
survey on our website.
Together we can make a difference, so let us ‘attempt great things for God and expect great things
from God’!