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Posted: 5/19/03

Lotz proposes Third World network

SWANWICK, ENGLAND–An international Baptist mission agency that would send and support Baptist missionaries from Third World countries has been proposed by Denton Lotz, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance.

The agency, Lotz said, would support those who feel called by God to missionary work beyond their borders but lack the financial resources to answer the call.

Lotz made the proposal at the BWA Summit on Baptist Mission in the 21st Century, held May 5-9 at Swanwick, England. Baptist leaders from 60 countries spent a week focused on the evangelistic challenges they face as they seek to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to all the world.

A “Call to Mission” document issued at the end of the gathering noted that “mission is from everywhere to everywhere” but such movement requires resourcing, and too often resources are held in the hands of few.

The document asks for a global as well as a local interpretation of Acts 4:32, which says that all the believers in the early church were one in heart and mind, no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own and they shared everything they had.

One of the key themes of the “Call to Mission” is that “sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed is the task of all disciples of Christ,” and the distinction between sending and receiving countries is now outdated in light of present-day realities.

“We recognized the major challenge of a post Christian culture in large parts of Europe and North America,” the document said, “and we have also seen the spectacular growth of the church in Asia, Africa and Latin America and with it, a faith-filled missionary outreach to the ends of the earth.”