Contextual Ministry and Reaching Courtney

Courtney is 28, single, educated, attractive, slim, and has never attended church, though she has several questions about church that make me squirm. She transferred to our area nine months ago from Roanoke and received a sizeable salary increase.

She is buying a condo and leasing a yellow ’06 Porsche Boxter. (She had a Mazda Miata but it got hit in the side.) Oh, and she also has a cat. (I don’t know what kind. I don’t really care for cats.)

Courtney has never been to an SBC church, has never heard of Lottie Moon, the BF&M, or Morris Chapman. She thinks that Baptists do something with snakes, but is not sure what (or why).

She had an abortion in 2001. Last Sunday at Kroger she saw a woman with a really young infant. It made her feel strange – maybe some guilt there. (She doesn’t talk about it.) Her parents are divorced and her dad has never known about the abortion.

Courtney likes reggae, genuine relationships/sharing, “meaning” in life, and she wishes that she could do something about poverty, hunger and/or AIDS. (She once sent $50 to one of the organizations that pledges to help hungry children. She wonders if the money really got to them.)

There are 1000’s of people like Courtney in our area. (Forty-six percent of Boone Countians were born outside of KY.) Perhaps they didn’t all transfer from Roanoke, but most would not feel “right” in a lot of our churches.

Associations who help their churches learn to relate to the Courtneys of the world have a promising future.

Associations who cannot or choose not to address these challenges will increasingly talk about how great the 60’s were and will become less and less effective.

Rick Robbins, DoM
Northern Kentucky Baptist Association

Associations Will Die ... Or Will They?

If your association ceased to exist how long would it take for area churches and members to notice you were gone?

There is great debate in some circles as to the real value of the local association. Can it survive? Some say “yes” while others have cast doom on the association's future. Are you aware that well known futurist have forecast that a multi-level denominational structure like the Southern Baptist Convention cannot survive in today's post-denominational environment? Most have said that either the association or the state convention must be eliminated from the SBC denominational structure. (For supporting articles, click HERE and HERE and HERE.)

Because of the funding structure in most new work (mission) areas, the state conventions have the ability to "fund" or "not fund" local associational missionaries. Several states are now moving to "phase out" associational directors and are proposing to replace them in some fashion with state convention representatives. Will the churches in those areas notice the difference?

What do churches in your area value about the local association and its ministry?

Will associations be the ones to suffer demise? OR will state conventions fall by the wayside? OR are futurists totally off base ... not seeing the value of the SBC maintaining both levels within its structure.

I CLOSE BY REPEATING: “If your association ceased to exist how long would it take for area churches and members to notice you were gone?”

Bobby Gilstrap, DoM
Huron & Southeastern Associations
Michigan

What Exactly Do You Do?

Shortly after becoming a Director of Missions, I was engaged in conversation with the president of a community college and he asked a simple question: What exactly do you do?
Following my attempt to provide a satisfactory answer, his response went something like this--"Well, I was just curious. In the academic field, we take someone who can't teach and make them an administrator. I thought maybe in Baptist circles they take someone who can't preach and give them an administrative job."

In time, I learned that the college president was quite adept at the use of humor. I like to think that he was just having a good laugh at my expense that day. Regardless of his motive, I think the question deserves to be honestly asked and accurately answered--"What exactly does a Director of Missions do?

A standard response may refer to a three-fold role of the Director of Missions as represented by the letter M: Minister, Missionary, and Manager. Call me strange, but I kind of like the letter L: Lover, Learner, and Leader. Take the first dimension for instance--lover of God, lover of others, lover of family, the Bible, the church, missions, etc.

Why stop there? A Director of Missions functions in a wide variety of roles: administrator, advocate, builder, catalyst, change agent, chaplain, communicator, community leader, coach, confidant, consultant, coordinator, counselor, denominational representative, director, educator, enabler, encourager, equipper, evangelist, executive, facilitator, fundraiser, historian, innovator,
journalist, leader, manager, mediator, mentor, minister, missionary, pastor, organizer, planner, preacher, planter, reconciler, referee, resource person, supervisor, team leader, teacher, trainer, vision-caster.

What functions would you add to the list? Extra points are awarded for words that begin with Q, Y, or Z. Also, you have permission to use this list in discussions with your Personnel Committee concerning merit raises.

The work of the Director of Missions has its share of joys, privileges, frustrations, and heartaches. It is easy to identify with the apostle Paul when he acknowledged "the daily pressure upon me of concern for all the churches" (II Corinthians 11:28, NASB). The mother of Dr. Jimmy Draper expressed it well when she remarked, "In one sense you belong to everyone and in another sense you belong to no one."

What do you consider to be the three most important roles of a Director of Missions? What do you enjoy most about the work? What brings you the greatest sense of satisfaction and accomplishment? What is your greatest frustration?

What exactly do you do?

Allan Nix, DoM
Jones County Baptist Association
Laurel, MS