Report of the
Board of Missions
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” -Phil. 4:4-7
The Board of Missions met seven times during the very busy year of 1996. Because of the very nature of world evangelization, the Board is continually petitioning the BFC for focused prayer and sacrificial giving. As God encourages us in the above passage to pray with thanksgiving, we go on record praising God for such a tremendous year.
First of all, we praise God for the rich heritage we have and the examples we have of faithful servants.
This year we saw the retirement of Roy and Diane Hertzog, Barclay and Judy Harley, Len and Nina Buck and Brian and Maureen Butler. We praise God for the ministry they have provided to the Kingdom of God. We also praise God for Bob Breitegam’s forty years of service to the BOM. Of assistance to the BOM were also the many years of service of Reba Deily, Kathlyne Stortz, and Polly Thomann as officers of the Conference-Wide WMS–all these needed to resign this year due to health reasons.
We praise God secondly, for the ten who were commissioned to service during 1996.
Thirdly, we rejoice and thank God for the nine new candidates approved by the Board this year:
We give our thanksgiving, fourthly, to the new Board Members and office personnel, and for office facilities God has provided this year.
The 1000 sq. ft. Office complex is located at:
1011 Brookside Rd., Suite 145
P.O. Box 3555
Allentown, PA 18106-0555
Telephone: (610) 398-8776
Fax: (610) 398-9303
E-mail: BFCBOM@juno.com
Finally, we thank our Heavenly Father for our 125 missionaries who are laboring around the world in 31 different countries proclaiming the Gospel of Christ. We praise Him for the 2,100+ prayer partners, the supporting churches, and the nearly 225 individual donors that stand by our missions outreach on a regular basis.
Resolved, that we delete the material in the Faith & Order pp. 153 through 157 from “A. Board of Missions — Purpose” through “I. Contributions” and replace with the following (Second Reading): [see pages 39-42 of the 1996 Yearbook]
General Statistical Report on December 31, 1996
1. Number of Sending Boards under which our
missionaries are working. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
2. Number of countries in which our
missionaries are working. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
3. Number of Missionaries:
Family Total
Units Couples Singles Adults
Active Missionaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 54 16 126
Leave of Absence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1 1 3
Appointees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 3 5 11
Active Applicants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 7 0 14
TOTALS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 65 22 154
4. Geographical Areas where our missionaries are assigned and their number
Area Families Adults Countries
U.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 38 U.S.
North America. . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 10 Canada, Mexico
(excluding the U.S.)
Central America. . . . . . . . . . . . .5 9 Bonaire, Costa Rica,
& (Caribbean). . . . . . . . . . . Guadeloupe
South America. . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 14 Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Suriname, Venezuela
Europe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 19 Austria, France, Hungary, Italy,Spain,UK, Yugoslavia, Romania
Africa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 14 Kenya, Tanzania, Mali
Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 13 India, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Mongolia, Thailand
Southeast Asia & Pacific. . . . . .5 9 Guam, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines
TOTALS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 126 31 COUNTRIES
Annual Reports From Missionaries
Annual activity reports from missionaries will be sent out by the missionaries themselves. These reports for 1996 will be sent out in early 1997.
Dates To Mark On Your Calendar Of Events:
Thursday, May 8, 1997 Conference-Wide Missionary Rally from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Bethel Bible Fellowship Church in Emmaus.
August 2 — 8, 1997 World Missions Week at Pinebrook
October 1997 Board of Missions sponsored Banquet
Board of Missions: R. C. Reichenbach, Chairman; Dana E. Weller, Director; Charles J. Albert, Jr., Financial Secretary; Ralph M. Soper, Robert Breitegam -resigned (Donald Faust serves as replacement until Annual Conference), James W. Harris, Leroy O. Herb, William W. Mull, Gerald Schlonecker, and Thomas P. Shorb.