Report of the Board of Missions
“Everyone is asking for you.”
But He (Jesus) replied, “We must go on to other towns as well, and give my message to them too, for that is why I came.”
(Mark 1: 37b – 38)
We live in a culture that creates great stress. There are many demands placed upon us by others. Jesus was in this same situation having spent the previous day healing the sick and the demon possessed. Many came in search of Jesus the next day because of the miracles they heard about and the potential of what Jesus could do for them. The Disciples of Jesus saw the needs represented and went to look for Jesus. The response of Jesus indicates that He would not be deterred from His primary purpose — to proclaim His message to those who still had not heard — to reach the unreached. We see many pressing needs around us. Many are anxious to tell us of the important things that we ought to be doing. But the purpose of Jesus, what He wants to do through us, is not just doing good things, but carrying out His priority work to reach the unreached.
Two priorities in mission strategy today are: 1) to reach unreached people groups, and 2) to concentrate on the urban settings that are growing so rapidly and are of such diverse ethnic backgrounds. God is at work bringing many unreached and lost people from around the World to be our neighbors. In Luke 10 a lawyer asked Jesus who his neighbor was for whom he should feel responsible. Jesus answered with a story of two religious leaders, a priest and a Levite, who demonstrated that they were not good neighbors. But a certain Samaritan, one who was ethnically different, responded with a demonstration of compassion and mercy. Jesus said the Good Samaritan was the neighbor because he showed mercy and then said, “Go and do the same.” As we look at our neighbors, may we not act irresponsibly as the “religious leaders” in the story Jesus told. We should feel a neighborly responsibility for those who have such great spiritual needs and are eternally lost without an opportunity of hearing and responding to the Gospel message that Jesus wanted to urgently share.
We are very gratified as we reflect on the ministry of our missionaries and the commendable spirit they have demonstrated. As you can imagine, there are many types of administrative activities that are required to keep these missionaries on the field. Some of these include receiving and receipting contributions for missionary support, tracking these contributions, and sending such contributions on a timely basis to the various sending boards. In addition to this, we have tried to keep missionaries and churches informed of various events and other information, and plan the Pastors & Leaders Seminar and the World Missions Week at Pinebrook. We have had meetings in churches to share and assist in many ways with the opportunity to sit down with several missions committees to assist them in their task. It has been a joy to us to be a small but vital part in God’s work to help people get to the mission field and to help local churches fulfill their responsibilities of world evangelism. The Executive Secretary was also appointed by Annual Conference to serve on the Inter-Cultural Ministries Study Committee which is searching ways to develop ethnic churches under the Bible Fellowship Church in our own neighborhood. This Board looks forward with great anticipation to cooperate with Annual Conference in an endeavor to plant cross-cultural B.F. Churches in our geographical area.
We want to thank the many Pastors, Missions Committees, Women’s Missionary Societies, and others who have demonstrated their commitment to God’s priority of world evangelization and their active involvement. We want to thank you for the privilege of working with you in this noble endeavor and your cooperation with the Board of Missions in so many ways. We also want to thank each one who has given to the missionary outreach of your church through the Board of Missions during this economic recession. Many have done so sacrificially. We continue to make ourselves available to each church to assist them in any way that we can that together we may excel in the work of the Lord. If you have some suggestion(s) as to how we can serve you more effectively, please contact the Executive Secretary or any of our board members.
At our Annual Conference in 1988, we brought before you the need for retirement funds for forthcoming retirements of some of our missionaries. Some years ago this Board became aware that some sending agencies did not adequately take care of the retiring needs of their missionaries, some of whom are also our missionaries. A fund was established with a desire that we would determine what their pension program would offer and then provide the balance of what a pastor would receive from the MRF with the same number of years. This Board recognized that we did not have the finances available to make this a reality without the assistance of churches. In 1988 we recommended an additional 5% of your present giving to the Board that we could allocate to “Retirement/Board Ministries”. This was approved by Annual Conference. About 22 churches participated by sending in funds for this account. This means that we were not able to gain the kind of income for retirement purposes that we really desired. Because of this, this Board decided that it would request supporting churches of retiring missionaries to assist the Board of Missions in providing retirement benefits for these individuals by continuing support of missionaires in retirement on a prorata basis. We will be in contact with churches who have missionararies approaching retirement recommending the percentage of support necessary to give them what a pastor would receive with the same number of years. We would encourage your participation to adequately provide for these who have represented us over the years. We have indicated to our missionaries that we are not able to bear this responsibility after January 1, 1994, and recommend a review and augmentation of retirement funds, where necessary, equal to what a pastor must place in the MAF. This step, however, only alleviates responsibility for time served after January 1, 1994.
This Board is grateful to the Annual Conference and our fellowship of churches for the encouraging support that you have given to its and to it first full-time Executive Secretary elected and ratified in 1985. In 1985 there were 78 active missionaries and 7 appointees with an income from churches in the amount of $407,854.60. This year we are reporting 102 active missionaries and 31 appointees with an income from B.F. Churches in the amount of $962,595.81 plus $50,345.46 from individuals equaling $1,012,941.27; a growth of about 248% since 1985. Needless to say, this has increased the work load dramatically! This Board is studying various options of actions. One of the options being explored is to engage another person as an assistant with the desire that such a person would assume more responsibilities in the future. Pray for us as we evaluate our options. If you have input to give, or suggestions of individuals, we would be most appreciative of your involvement.
The Board of Missions met seven times this year and the following information indicates some of the highlights of the year between September 1, 1992 and August 31, 1993:
Missionary Candidates
This past year we have been involved with many individuals in various stages of preparation for the field. At this point we have about 12 active applicants. To some degree, we worked with 37 different applicants this year of which 21 became appointees. We also worked with 41 in the appointee category, 9 of whom left for their field of ministry this year. They progressed through the process as follows (number of adults):
Applicants at September 1, 1992 (12 family units). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Applicants Added (11 family units). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Applicants Transferred to Inactive (0 family units). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
Applicants Withdrawn (2 family units). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Additional Applicants accepted by this Board
(13 family units). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Applicants at August 31, 1993 (7 family units). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Appointees at September 1, 1992 (10 family units). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Appointees Withdrawn (1 family unit). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Appointees who became missionaries on their field of ministry. . . . . . . . . 6
(3 family units – Hunsickers, LoRussos, Meitzlers)
Applicants who became missionaries on their field of ministry. . . . . . . . . .3
(3 family units – Baran, Ruch, Rick Warner)
General Statistical Report on August 31, 1993
1. Number of Sending Boards under which our
missionaries are working. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2. Number of countries in which our
missionaries are working. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3. Number of Missionaries:
Family Total
Units Couples Singles Adults
Active Missionaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 44 14 102
Leave of Absence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 2 0 4
Appointees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 14 3 31
Active Applicants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5 2 12
TOTALS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 65 19 149
4. Geographical Areas where our missionaries are assigned and their number
Area Families Adults Countries
U.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 32 U.S.
North America. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 8 Canada, Mexico
(excluding the U.S.)
Central America. . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 9 Bonaire, Costa Rica, Guadeloupe, St.Vincent
South America. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 14 Bolivia, Ecuador, Suriname, Venezuela
Europe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 15 U.K., France, Austria, Spain, Yugoslavia
Africa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 17 Kenya, Morocco, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zaire
Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 4 Mongolia, Thailand
Southeast Asia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 3 Malaysia, Philippines,
TOTALS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 102 25 COUNTRIES
Summer Missionary Financial Aid
Financial assistance totalling $2,835 was given to thirty-six applicants from eight Bible Fellowship Churches to serve with recognized organizations in various parts of the U.S. and 9 other countries.
Missions Emphasis Events Of The Board Of Missions
The Board of Missions conducted its Seventeenth Missions Seminar for Pastors, Missionaries, and Key Lay Missions Leaders on March 30, 1993 at our Quakertown Bible Fellowship Church. The general theme was: “The State Of World Missions Heading Into The 21st Century.” Mr. Jim Reapsome, Executive Director of Evangelical Missions Information Service, was the speaker. About 160 people attended this seminar.
World Missions Week at Pinebrook Bible Conference was held from August 7 – 13, 1993. Dr. Eric Crichton, evening speaker, spoke from the Book of Jonah.
A Conference-wide Missionary Rally was conducted on May 13, 1993 at our Lebanon Church.
Dates To Mark On Your Calendar Of Events:
Tuesday, April 12, 1994 Pastors & Leaders Missions Seminar from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in our Lancaster Church. Tom Telford and Larry Walker, both of ACMC, will be the seminar leaders relating to developing strategy for world evangelization entitled “Seven Dynamics For Advancing Your Church In Missions.”
Thursday, May 12, 1994 Conference-Wide Missionary Rally from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Location to be announced.
August 6 — 12, 1994 World Missions Week at Pinebrook Bible Conference.
Our Missionary Family
In addition to the above who left for their field of service, the following missionaries have been faithfully involved in the following ministries on the various fields:
Annual Reports From Missionaries
The annual reports from missionaries will again be published in a book entitled Missionary Directory and Annual Ministry Reports of the Bible Fellowship Church Missionary Family 1993. We anticipate that this book will be ready for distribution at this Annual Conference at a donation of $2.50. It was determined by this Board that the costs of printing these books could be defrayed by a minimal donation. It is our hope that people will become better acquainted with our missionary family and use it for regular prayer for them.
Recommendations To The 110th Annual Conference
1. WHEREAS, the 109th Annual Conference granted the Board of Missions additional time to make a final determination in regard to whether or to what extent it will participate in the Minister’s Annuity Fund (cf. 1992 YEARBOOK, p. 19); and
WHEREAS, most missionaries serving under the Board of Missions are in foreign countries where their income is not subject to Federal income tax in the U.S.A., which creates a disadvantage regarding taxation if they were to participate in the MAF; and
WHEREAS, retirement benefits to ministers serving under the Board of Missions are also affected by varied retirement benefits provided by certain sending boards and other factors including the percentage of missionary support provided by the Bible Fellowship Church; therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the Board of Missions be exempt from mandatory participation in the MAF; and be it further
RESOLVED, that ordained ministers of the Bible Fellowship Church who serve under the Board of Missions, in fields of ministry in the United States or in other situations where it would be appropriate and advantageous, may elect to individually participate in the MAF and shall be responsible to make appropriate arrangements with the Board of Missions regarding support levels and payment to their account.
2. RESOLVED, that the material on page 98 of the FAITH & ORDER be adopted for FIRST READING as follows:
Regional Programs
The Board of Missions shall coordinate Regional Programs as deemed advisable.
The following material in brackets [ ] is to be deleted:
[1. The Board of Missions shall establish groupings of churches for Regional Programs.
2. The officers of the Women’s Missionary Society of each church of a region shall constitute an organizing committee for the region.
3. Each regional committee shall establish officers as it deems necessary.
4. Regional officers shall be elected at an Annual Meeting held in the autumn. These officers shall be members of the Bible Fellowship Church.
5. The elected officers shall plan regional programs, including establishing the frequency and dates of regional rallies.]
3. RESOLVED, that the By-Laws of the Board of Missions in the Faith and Order, pp. 153 to 157, be approved at Second Reading (see 1992YEARBOOK, pages 44-46 for First Reading).
Board of Missions: R. C. Reichenbach, Chairman; Roy A. Hertzog, Executive Secretary; Charles J. Albert, Jr., Financial Secretary; Kenneth F. Barber; Robert Breitegam; Leroy O. Herb; Gerald Schlonecker; Thomas P. Shorb; Ralph M. Soper; and James Sunday.