Editorial

In a post-9/11 world, international missions may be as difficult as the earliest days of the Christian church. Perhaps never has there been a day with seemingly boundless opportunities matched with extraordinary difficulty. Even while many regions of the world are newly open to Gospel missionaries, the emergence of radical Islam threatens Christians - and especially Americans, even in our own homeland, as 9/11 so graphically demonstrated.

On Nov. 21, Bonnie Penner Witherall, a 31-year-old American medical missionary from The Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination, was brutally murdered in Lebanon. The shooting came one day after the U.S. State Department "issued a warning to Americans around the world to be vigilant about possible attacks," reported The New York Times, adding that the government warning followed newly released threats from terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

In recent months, Witherall was the focus of criticism for "proselytizing Christianity to young Muslims," according to The Times. "We told her she might be vulnerable to insults or even being hit and she answered that she would consider it an honor," Bishop George Kwaiter, the archbishop of the Roman Catholic diocese said at a gathering of Christian and Muslim leaders who condemned the murder. "We don't accept this kind of preaching. We reject it totally," referring to what The Times calls "proselytizing."

I totally reject the bishop's rejection of Witherall's evangelism efforts, which included prenatal care to Palestinian women from a nearby refugee camp. And so do most other Southern Baptists, especially those who are seeking missionary appointment with our International Mission Board - even with the prospect that they, too, could be a martyr for the faith.

Currently, there are more than 5,400 missionaries reaching nearly 2,000 people groups and population segments. And more missionaries are ready to be sent - if the funds will permit.

"We find ourselves for the first time having to consider restricting the flow of missionaries to the field because Southern Baptist giving has not been growing as quickly as Southern Baptist going," Jerry Rankin, IMB president, told his trustees early this month in Dallas.

IMB leaders expect a net increase of 400 missionaries in the coming year, even though the 2003 budget could only project enough funds for 150 new missionaries.

Last year, Southern Baptists gave a record amount - $113.7 million - to the annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, which funds nearly 50 percent of the IMB's annual basic budget. Although a record, the offering goal for 2001 was missed by more than $6.3 million. And, in order to reach this year's Lottie Moon Offering goal of $125 million, offering receipts will have to increase nearly 19 percent.

On average last year, Southern Baptists' 6.4 million families gave a pitiful $17.76 to the Offering. By comparison, the staff families of the IMB's Richmond, Va., home office have pledged nearly $165,000 to the 2002 offering, averaging $455 per family. According to IMB officials, if every Southern Baptist family gave at the same rate as the IMB Richmond staff, the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering would surge to $2.9 billion!

"Since 9/11, all Southern Baptists need to rethink their commitment to international missions," said Billy Hoffman, the IMB's director of development. "The world will not be improved with political or military solutions. We must provide the resources to fund the biblical strategy to share the Good News of Christ with all peoples."

In this issue of Florida Baptist Witness, significant coverage is being devoted to the annual International Missions Emphasis, climaxing with the Week of Prayer for International Missions, Dec. 1-8.

Perhaps your church has not planned an observance of the International Missions Emphasis, but after reading about it in this week's Witness you want to do something.

Here are two suggestions: First, we encourage you to make use of all the content of the Witness - photocopy and display as much of the paper that will be helpful. Second, the IMB has created a website (www.ime.imb.org) with great resources, including a guide for last minute planning.

"That all people may know Him" is the theme for this year's International Missions Emphasis. This theme, which is apparent on every page of God's Word, is drawn from Psalm 22:27: "All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before You." The theme reminds us that the ultimate purpose of missions is the worship of God by all the peoples of the world.

Like CMA missionary Witherall, hundreds of Southern Baptists are seeking missionary appointment to and serving in the hard places of the world so "That all peoples may know Him." With so many who want to go, the question remains, will Southern Baptists make the necessary commitment to provide the means by which they can go?

This Christmas, make your first gift a generous one to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.