In September of this year, all IMB missionaries and staff age 50 and above, with a minimum of five years tenure, were offered a Voluntary Retirement Incentive (VRI) from the IMB. IMB leaders determined that our international mission force must be reduced by 600 to 800 in order to bring the IMB budget into balance.
Apparently, IMB leaders a number of years ago intentionally grew our mission force beyond what the income could support. The additional missionaries were sent and sustained by selling property overseas and drawing down the IMB reserve funds. But with reserve funds significantly lower, the time has come that the IMB must operate within its budget. Current IMB leadership determined that the first step in reducing our mission force would be to ask our most senior missionaries and staff to consider the VRI. The deadline to make their decision was in early November, but they were allowed to change their mind as late as early December.
While we don’t have the complete picture as to how this affects IMB missionaries from the Northwest (the IMB has not reported on this, as of Dec. 8, 2015), I want to tell you what we know. I do this so that you can pray for the men and women affected by the VRI, and also so that you might know who could be available to serve in our Northwest Baptist churches.
Those Northwest IMB missionaries who are accepting the VRI, and leaving their overseas assignment are: Andy and Kaye Martin, Susan Vessey, Al and Ann Rodriquez, and Ian and Sherri Buntain. There may be others, and probably are, but we don’t yet have information on any others. In addition to these, David and Nora Gass have accepted the VRI, after serving 13 years with the IMB, and David will join our NWBC staff on February 1, 2016 as a church health strategist, serving in Regions 1 and 2. David will also help lead our East Asia partnership. He served as the partnership strategist in East Asia for the IMB and has a relationship with hundreds of East Asia missionaries.
In addition to these, the couple that many of you know as “Leon and Kay” (pseudonyms), have accepted the VRI, but are choosing to remain in the country and city where they have served for many years. This summer they received a mission team from the Northwest, and though no longer officially IMB missionaries, they will continue to relate to IMB personnel, and they will continue to work with Northwest Baptist mission teams.
As we receive further information on IMB personnel from the Northwest, we will update you. Also, feel free to contact me if you receive information regarding one of our missionaries. If you would like to contact one of these that I have mentioned here, please contact Marsha Gray (marshag@nwbaptist.org) or myself and we will put you in touch with them.
There are dozens of IMB missionaries from the Northwest who will remain on their field of service. Those remaining need our earnest prayers. Many are losing their field leaders and mentors due to the VRI. In addition to praying for them, the NWBC is taking 200 volunteers to Pattaya, Thailand in August, 2016 to serve about 1,300 IMB missionaries and their children during a time of retreat. We will minister to their spiritual, physical and emotional needs in an unprecedented opportunity for our convention of churches (contact Sheila Allen for more information at Sheila@nwbaptist.org).
Also, thank you for your support of mission work by giving through the Cooperative Program. This is also the season in which many of our churches support the work of the IMB by giving through the Lottie Moon Offering. Last year our NWBC churches increased their missions giving through the Lottie Moon Offering by 25 percent, with total NWBC giving of slightly more than $500,000 in 2014. We anticipate another great year of giving to support the work of more than 4,000 IMB missionaries.