Since 1935, IM missionaries have traveled the globe to share the gospel. Their pioneering spirits, unending devotion to their call, and vision to reach people kept them at the task set before them.
How can we embrace their legacy and CONTINUE THE MISSION by giving to reach those who need to hear the good news? Participating in the World Missions Offering is a great way to do that! It supports all aspects of IM ministry, including these three main areas.
Partnerships
As Free Will Baptists, we were privileged to be part of the ministry of our “legacy” partners when we sent missionaries to India, Cuba, Panama, and more. What an honor to have seen the places, felt the tears, heard the stories, and known the missionaries who went. The national churches in these countries now carry on the ministry, with continued support from IM.
We are extending our reach into places like Pakistan,
Argentina, Bangladesh, and many others. We can’t physically reside in many of these places, but we can send funds to the World Missions Offering to support the work.
One of our partners in Pakistan, Aamir, recently told us how he first connected with Free Will Baptists in 2007. Our Korean brothers and sisters sponsored a Leadership Matters Course in which he participated. (LMC is a ministry of one of our partners, International Training Alliance. This is the Body of Christ laboring together!) Aamir was working with homeless teens. He opened a drug rehabilitation center to help them. God laid it on his heart to work with these young people living in hopeless situations, with no future for jobs or a better way of life. Aamir stated, “God wants something more,” for these boys, many orphaned at young ages.
Aamir rented a small building to begin the drug rehab program. Though $50 covered the rent, it felt more like $5,000 in Pakistan’s struggling economic situation. Fellow Christians helped supply food for the young men as the program grew.
Now with 60 young men in the program, the ministry receives funds from the World Missions Offering to offset food expenses. They offer vocational classes to equip the boys for jobs and keep them off the streets. Many boys have become believers and started working with mentors and local businessmen who are also believers. Pastor Aamir says, “From that two-room rented building, God made us like a city on a mountain…to share the Word of Christ with Muslims.”
All our partnerships around the world, like the one with Aamir, are leading ministries to CONTINUE THE MISSION into the future.
Missionaries
It’s exciting to see God call more workers into the harvest. Young (and not-so-young) people are answering the call. Over the past ten years, IM has sent almost 50 new missionaries to serve in countries around the world. Each had to secure his or her own support, which was sometimes a daunting task.
Knowing new missionaries face barriers that have kept some from making it to the field, the leadership team at IM established plans to provide start-up monies at the time candidates are appointed. This helps with travel, even before they share in their first church service.
One of our field workers in southern Spain, Karah, said, “The WMO has helped us in many ways, but one of the ways it has helped us the most is when we received kick-off money for our fundraising account. We were able to receive funds as soon as we were approved, so we didn’t have to start fundraising at zero. It lifted some of the weight of fundraising off our shoulders. We are so grateful for that gift and for all who give to the WMO!”
Karah and other newly appointed missionaries and workers have felt the weight of fundraising and are grateful the World Missions Offering is relieving the burden. As they go out into the world to share the message of salvation and hope, supporters in the States have the privilege of sending them to CONTINUE THE MISSION of the pioneers who paved the way.
General Fund
About 1,800 miles beneath earth’s surface lies its ball-shaped core. This extremely hot center reaches temperatures as high as 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s hot! The core is made mainly of nickel and iron, whose moving atoms create what we know as the magnetic field. It has two main functions: give compass direction and serve as a shield to protect the Earth’s surface.
The core of IM also contains many moving “atoms” to make it work, gives compass direction (strategy), and serves as a shield for IM missionaries and ministries around the world. This core is supported by the General Fund.
Let’s review a few of the ministries helped by the General Fund:
Student Missions: ETEAM, CMP, OA
Mobilization: mission education
and involvement through
THP trips and teams
Recruiting, onboarding, training, equipping, and deploying missionary personnel
Strategic oversight and coordination of missionary endeavors toward
one purpose
Developing and maximizing ministry through and with global partners
Safeguarding the integrity, legality, and viability of all we do through systems, policies, procedures, and infrastructure
Overseeing a unified and effective approach to funding all efforts both now and in the future
As you can see, the General Fund is not just about the office personnel and their salaries. It’s so much more! Supporting the General Fund sustains the core of IM, both for now and for generations to come, as we CONTINUE THE MISSION.
We’ve come a long way since that first pioneer missionary stepped off a boat into a new land in 1935. While our mission is still the same — labor with the Body of Christ to fulfill the Great Commission — we know it takes many kinds of people to make up the Body of Christ. Those who go. Those who pray. Those who send. Those who give. What part of the Body of Christ are you filling today? CONTINUE THE MISSION by participating in the World Missions Offering!
About the Writer: Kristi Johnson, former missionary to Spain, CONTINUES THE MISSION of IM as the development communications manager. Her time behind the lens of her camera and in front of her laptop screen give her opportunities to capture and share stories from our mission fields.
