Report of the
Board of Missions
(1:1) Paul, Silas and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.
(1:2) We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. (3) We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. (4) For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, (5) because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. (6) You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. (7) And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. (8) The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia–your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, (9) for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, (10) and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead–Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
(2:1) You know, brothers, that our visit to you was not a failure.
1 Thessalonians 1:1 – 2:1
In this passage from I Thessalonians Paul is enthusiastically telling the Thessalonica Church how happy and thankful he is for their faithfulness and endurance as they continue in the faith and how they have become an example and an encouragement to believers both near and far. Paul also reminds the believers in Thessalonica of the personal involvement of Silas, Timothy, and himself in the process of sharing the gospel and living daily with the new believers in such a way that Paul and his friend’s lives were an example as to how a Christian should live. Paul also reminds the church of the work of the Holy Spirit during this initial visit and church planting effort. The result was that, in spite of severe suffering, a thriving, faithful, church was successfully planted.
Planting churches is just one vocation that many BFC missionaries have been called to do. Other BFC missionaries have been called to: teach, provide medical assistance, fly a plane, build and maintain homes, churches, and schools, administrate finances, preach, counsel and encourage, manage computer resources, cook and clean, plan and oversee, be a dorm parent, etc. etc. Two everyday tasks that Paul spoke about in the above scripture passage and ones that each and every BFC missionary constantly is trying to accomplish is: first, to live their lives in such a way as to be an example of how a Christian should live, and second, to share their faith whenever possible.
The Board of Missions Department
The Board of Missions Department conducts the business matters of the BOM just as most departments do. Budget and financial matters are reviewed and discussed. Folks that are seeking to become BFC missionaries are interviewed and assessed. BFC missionaries on home assignmnet are often interviewed to understand the progress they have made and the challenges they and their ministry face. The BOM Director always provides an update concerning missionaries who are:
> candidates and their status with their sending board and support raising efforts,
> set to leave for the field and when their commissioning date is,
> coming back to the states as scheduled or who have reasons to come back earlier than planned,
> especially experiencing difficult times in their family and or their ministry.
Each Department meeting always includes a time of prayer for the missionary families, and for those missionary families facing real challenges, a period of open discussion is held to share ideas which may be helpful. A BOM Sub-Committee oversees requests for and distribution of funds to BFC missionary families from the Buttress Fund. This fund exists as a result of generous contributors to the Board of Missions which contributions were given in order to provide assistance to missionaries for personal support, emergency needs, and particular project initiatives.
The Board of Missions Staff
Below is a summary of the services offered by the Board of Missions (BOM) staff:
1. Missionary Care, Including Field Visits
We are available and willing to meet with those considering missionary service and with our missionaries who need advice or counsel regarding their ministry. Visits to fields of ministry are undertaken to assist and encourage our missionaries as needs and opportunities arise. Part of this missionary care includes communicating with over 40 mission sending boards under which the BFC’s over 150 adult missionaries serve. This communication includes being an advocate for each of the BFC missionaries.
2. Seminars
The BOM offers a host of informational resources to BFC churches.
• Design Your Impact Workshop: This five-hour seminar enables church leaders to discover their congregation’s key characteristics and resources (their DNA) and move toward identifying a strategic missions focus that can unleash a powerful, new, global dynamic from their church.
• Knowing Gods Will Seminars are conducted each year on a denominational level at a fall Retreat Within a Retreat (RWR) held at Pinebrook. This information is also useful as a weekend course for a youth group in a local church setting.
• P.O.M. (Parents of Missionary) Retreats: This weekend retreat seminar is designed to keep the parents of our missionaries on track with the ministry of their sons and daughters (and grandchildren) overseas.
• Culture Link Seminars is a program that prepares your short-term missionary teams to be fully prepared for ministry. This is a necessary seminar for any church serious about getting the most from a cross-cultural experience.
• Speaker Resource: The office personnel remain available for mission emphasis in local congregations. This includes all stated public worship services, Sunday School, mission conferences, and special events. The office also provides a complete listing on our website (see #4) of our missionaries that are currently available for your missionary event needs.
• Mentoring Services are available to assist a church’s board of elders and missions committee in developing a comprehensive, long range, and balanced outreach plan that uses every member in God’s global cause.
• Short-term Planning Advice and Assistance is designed to help you and your church partner with your missionaries. Chris Merrick (Short-Term Projects Coordinator) and Nelson Randolph Short-Term Partnership Coordinator) will assist with short term missions trip planning.
3. Prayer Calendar
This publication provides current prayer information for your congregation. The new format is an attractive, readable prayer aid and is offered to churches at a reduced rate. Nearly 1900 are sent out each month.
4. Board of Missions Website
The BOM website is quickly becoming a focal point of information for everyone interested in missions in the BFC. This site continues to grow with useful information for the church leadership and anyone seeking God’s direction for possible service through the Board of Missions. Personal support needs and biographical information are continually updated and available 24 hours a day. There are also helpful links for planning short-term or career missions involvement. One may log onto the site at www.bfcbom.org.
5. Email Subscriber Lists
• Daily Prayer is a daily e-mail that allows subscribers to view the Prayer Calendar request for the day, in addition to receiving up-to-the-minute news and prayer requests from the field.
• Friday Prayer is an in-depth prayer document produced each Friday and sent by e-mail. This communication, designed for missionary-to-missionary contact, is also available to the Collegium members and to a select group of other prayer partners.
• Tanzania Project Prayer Guide is a monthly guide to promote the Tanzania Project.
• “Let’s Fish” is a newsletter, produced each Wednesday, and is designed to keep those interested in short-term missionary trips and possible career missionary involvement on the cutting edge. It is an outlet for the exchange of ideas, as well as prayer and ministry opportunities. This document enjoys a readership from ages fourteen years through adult, and includes pastors, missionaries, youth leaders, mission chair persons, laymen, and students. There is a readership of nearly 250 each week. A full archive is available on the BOM website.
6. May Missionary Rally
This annual gathering of missionaries and Bible Fellowship churches provides a world-wide panorama of missions, both local and overseas. It is an opportunity for networking and interaction among individuals as they endeavor to draw attention to God’s heart for the world in their churches. A children’s program for Kindergarten through 8th grade has become a successful part of this day. This year’s rally will be held May 13th, 2010 at Calvary BFC in Sinking Springs. Grace BFC, Reading, PA, will host the Rally.
7. Missionary In-Residence at Pinebrook Bible Conference Summer Family Camp
The BOM provides a missionary family for each of the eight weeks of family camp to promote missions in the Bible Fellowship Denomination. Each week the campers have opportunity to interact with a missionary from the BFC at a very personal level. Additionally, the missionaries have opportunity to present their ministries during public meetings.
8. Office Activities
The office remains the hub for donor and church information and financial processing. We compile and maintain all the necessary information to keep individuals and churches abreast of the financial needs of the entire missionary family. Receipting of financial donations is meticulously recorded for both the donor’s and the missionary’s records. At the end of each month checks are sent by the BOM to each sending board for the amount of monies received for each BFC missionary serving under that board. Addresses and birthdays are kept up to date and extensive planning is undertaken for the annual Missions Rally.
Thank you for your partnership in ministry!
Robert Davies
Secretary
Candidates and Commissionings
The local church continues to produce world bound missionaries. This year the Board of Missions processed a number of new applications and approved candidates: William Crompton, Bill & Shirley Novak, Nathan & Erica Shrob, Jeremiah and Briana Stokes, Carrie Ziegenfuss, commissioned missionaries: Matt & Susannah Lynskey, John & Faith Solt,
Individuals Ending Their Active Missionary Service
Barbara Chappell
Bob & Shirl Harriman
Aaron & Marlene Hoffman
Annual Reports From Missionaries
Annual activity reports from missionaries will be sent out by the missionaries themselves. These reports for 2009 will be sent out in early 2010.
Dates To Mark On Your Calendar Of Events:
Thursday, May 13th 2010 Conference-Wide Missionary Rally 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at Calvary BFC, Sinking Spring, PA
Board of Missions: Ralph M. Soper, Chairman; Dana E. Weller, Director; Daniel G. Oswald, Financial Secretary; Robert W. Davies Secretary; Donald S. Faust, Sue Figard, Kevin W. Kirkpatrick, Donald E. Kuntzman, Thomas P. Shorb, Craig Tress, Philip E. Yerrington
Missionary Units as of December 31, 2009
General Statistical Report on December 31, 2009
1. Number of Sending Boards under which our
missionaries are working. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
2. Number of countries in which our missionaries
are working. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
3. Number of Missionaries:
Family Couples Singles Total
Units Adults
Active Missionaries 85 70 15 155
Leave of Absence 0 0 1 1
Appointees 6 3 3 9
Active Applicants 3 1 2 4
TOTALS 94 74 21 169
4. Geographical Areas where our missionaries are assigned and their number
Area Families Adults Countries
| USA | 35 | 65 | United States of America |
| North America | 4 | 8 | Canada, Mexico (excluding U.S.) |
| Central America | 3 | 5 | Costa Rica, Guadeloupe |
| Caribbean | 1 | 6 | Bonaire |
| South America | 3 | 5 | Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay |
| Europe | 17 | 32 | Austria, France, UK, Greece, Hungary, Spain, Serbia, Northern Ireland, Czech Republic, Spanish Canary Islands |
| Africa | 13 | 21 | Kenya, Tanzania, Morocco, Cameroon, Togo, Zambia |
| Asia | 11 | 20 | Mongolia, Kazakhstan, India, Thailand, Ukraine, Japan, 1 unassigned |
| Southeast Asia& Pacific | 4 | 6 | Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, 1 unassigned |