The Ohio Independent Baptist, September 1971

A Philosophy of Missions by Rev. Earl Umbaug h l)o ) ot1 l1a, e a philo ophy of mi - . ion,·? ) l 011 t1r1doubtedly do whether or 11ot ) ot1 have ever expre ed that i1l1ilo ·oph)' either publicly or privately. l1at philo ophy will be expre sed in the 111i ionary program of your hurch. Some have aid, "Our mis– ·ion field i that area within a number f n1ile of our church." In keeping with thi thought, almost the total church budget i spent on the program of that local church with very little going to missions, as we understand that term in the OARBC and the GARBC. Others understand missions to be anything that is done for the Lord outside the continental United States. The missionary budget of that church wil l be spent almost entirely on foreign missions and some times will result in the neglect not only of home missions but also in the neglect of the work of the local church. An interdenominational or non-denomin– ational approach will be reflected by the wide variety of brands and agencies under wh ich missionaries are support- ed. We uggest that a balanced mis– sionary budget would be appropriate taking the goal of using one third of our mis ionary moni es for starting churches abroad , one third for starting new churches at home and one third for suppor tive min istries both at home and abroad. T he value of such a balanced budget can be seen in the total effect of using one th ird of the budget for starting new churches at home. In r esponse to a survey sent to 45 chu rches start– ed in Ohio, over a seven year period , 26 churches responded to the quest ion– naire enabling us to draw the follow– ing conclusions. ( 1) It is an efficient progr am in that such p rojects soon became self-supporting and no longer needed continua l out-lays of miss ionary money from our churches. Fourteen had be– come self-suppor ting in an aver age of one year and seven months. The other twelve were receiving an aver age of $100 a • • • month although several of them were less than a year old. ( 2) Monies spent in helping new churches were returned to the Lord s work in a relatively short time through the mission– ary budgets of the new church– es. These churches have re– ceived a total of $68,535 in out-side help but have already put back $93 ,185 into missions through their own missionary budgets. Soon they will all be self-supporting and a continual source of missionary revenue. ( 3) It is an effective method of evangelism. Although some of the churches had not kept a record of the number of con– versions, 122 7 professions of faith were recorded. ( 4 ) It helps provide the pt!tsonnel needed for the future expan– sion of the Lord's work. For ty young people, f r o m these churches, are in training for full-time Christian servic~ and two are already in the ministry. ( 5) ine of these new churches have helped start other new churches. A balanced mission– ary budget will accompl ish more, in the long run. The architect's concept of our proposed * multi -purpose building. Chapel will occupy the front half (right) of the structure w ith a separate gym– nasiurr1, athlet ic office, locker rooms, showers, a n d other much needed areas in the rear port ion. BAPTIST BIBLE COLLEGE OF PENNSYLVANIA ._ *Ground breaking 1972, D.V. 10 SEPTEMBER, 1971 538 Venard Road Clarks Summit, Penna . 18411 ---,o--- Wr i te Director of Adm iss ions for BBC Cata log and course information. THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST