In 1917 Anton and Viola Andersen boarded the ship The City of Calcutta to plant their lives in Africa for the sake of the Gospel. Through more than forty years of ministry, thousands came to Christ. In 1955 the Andersen's son Fred, a student at Tennessee Temple, impressed upon Dr. Lee Roberson the need for helpers in the Belgian Congo. In response Dr. Roberson, along with nine other pastors, organized the Southern wing of the Congo Gospel Mission.
When the Congo closed in 1960 because of revolution, Dr. Roberson made the motion that the Mission be enlarged to embrace the world. That led to the formation of Baptist International Missions on June 28, 1960. Since 1960 BIMI has extended its ministries into 100 fields around the world. With one thousand missionaries the Mission continues to assist local churches with their efforts to fulfill the Great Commission.
Understanding the importance of the Great Commission, our purpose is to assist independent Baptist churches in the establishment of like churches around the world. BIMI exists to serve the local church as it sends missionaries into God's harvest field. As the church's delegated servant, we provide accountability, training and assistance to our missionaries as they carry out their pre-field, on-field and furlough ministries. It is our desire to glorify God through the pursuit of excellence in every area of this worldwide ministry of faith.
BIMI is a mission agency that is operated solely by faith. We are directed by a Board of Trustees comprised of more than 20 independent Baptist pastors who volunteer their time and resources. Field Directors who have many years of experience on the field are responsible for particular areas of the world. Neither the President nor any of our Field Directors receive a salary. Like the missionaries serving overseas, they raise their own financial and prayer support and trust God to provide for them through local churches. Additionally, a number of support staff serve at the World Missions Center. These servants of the Lord have a heart for all His faithful workers serving around the world.
God the Holy Spirit is the One Who calls the missionary (Acts 13:2). In response to that call, the church sends the missionary (Acts 13:3). It is at this point that BIMI stands ready to assist in each step of the church planting process. BIMI has gained a great wealth of experience since its inception in 1960. This experience is available to help local churches and missionaries streamline their efforts in obeying the Great Commission.
We are a faith mission agency. Every missionary must trust God by faith to provide the financial and prayer support needed to enter the mission field. Missionaries are not guaranteed support by BIMI. They receive faith commitments from churches who agree to undertake their financial and prayer support..
Church planting is the main focus of Baptist International Missions. Planting churches is what Jesus had in mind when He said, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen" (Matthew 28:19-20). Obviously, this does not mean we avoid such things as aviation, medical missions, construction, humanitarian aid, etc., since these things often play a very vital role in starting a church. It only means these types of ministries should be a means unto an end—church planting. The often quoted statement "the job of a missionary is to work himself out of a job" is our focal point. The main goal of every BIMI missionary is the establishment of fundamental, independent Baptist churches. As a mission board we want to do everything possible to train and assist our missionaries in this task.
Church Relationship
BIMI is an independent Baptist mission serving independent Baptist churches. As a Baptist mission, it is expected that all missionaries and missionary candidates must be scripturally baptized in a Baptist church. All missionaries and missionary candidates are to be members of and sent out by independent Baptist churches.
Financial integrity demands accountability. As good stewards of the funds God has entrusted to our care, we are accountable both to the government and to supporting churches. Financial accountability is maintained through a yearly audit conducted by an independent accounting firm. We operate as a tax exempt organization through which monetary contributions, materials or properties can be channeled. BIMI provides both the contributor and the missionary with the receipts required by the government. The funds received by BIMI are raised primarily through independent Baptist churches that practice Faith Promise giving for missions. Occasionally grants and gifts from individuals, corporations, or trusts are received. These gifts are invested in projects and ministries of Kingdom value both in the United States and abroad.
Baptist International Missions is committed to helping local churches with the logistics associated with the Great Commission. The administration, finances and responsibilities involved with the task of worldwide evangelization are remarkable. Few churches possess the personnel or capability to provide all the services and know-how needed to adequately assist a missionary who has been called to serve in a faraway place. Countless details come into play when preparing missionaries for the field and when helping to make certain that their needs are met after arriving at their ministry location.
BIMI furnishes their missionaries with a legal basis on which to operate in most countries, a liaison with potential supporting churches, an accounting of monthly support levels, information services and counsel concerning the country in which they intend to serve. BIMI's longevity and experience enable us to provide missionary candidates with information, statistics and services including:
Our passion is to assist local churches in reaching the world with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have been commanded to go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). With a world population that exceeds 7 billion people, the need is greater now than it has ever been before. The words of Jesus remind us that the harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few (Luke 10:2). Will you consider being one of those who will "Go"? Would you join us in praying to the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labourers into his harvest (Matthew 9:38)?
The Inspiration of the Bible
We believe the Bible is the verbally inspired Word of God. We believe the writings of the Old and New Testaments are fully God-breathed to the extent that the very words were chosen by God from the human writers vocabulary so that the Bible is the very word of God, inerrant in all its assertions and teachings. The Bible is therefore the only infallible authority for both doctrine and life. Since this is true, it is the special revelation of God to man and the only basis for true Christian unity. (2 Timothy 3:16-17; Matthew 5:18; Acts 1:16; Mark 12:36; 2 Peter 1:19-21; Hebrews 4:12; John 10:35;16:12,13;17:17) The Person of God the Father We believe God is supreme in His Person, eternal in His being, absolute in His attributes, and glorious in His Perfection. We believe in the Trinity. We believe in one Triune God, the creator of heaven and earth. We believe that in the unity of the Godhead there are three distinct persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory. God is personal, spirit, omniscient, sovereign, perfect, immutable, eternal in His being, holiness, love, wisdom, and power. We believe that God is absolutely separate and above the world as its creator, yet every where present in the world as the sustainer of all things. God is self-existent and self-revealing in His relationship with His creation. (Genesis 1:1; Matthew 28:19; Deuteronomy 4:35; 6:4; 1 Corinthian 8:6; John 1:1-3; Romans 1:2-4; Ephesians 4:3-6) The Person of Jesus Christ We believe in the virgin birth of Christ, His Deity, and sinless life, His vicarious death, along with His bodily resurrection and ascension, and in His personal, pre-millennial return. We believe the Lord Jesus Christ is the second person of the Godhead, God in the flesh, virgin born as no other man has ever been born nor ever will be born. He lived an absolutely sinless life and became the sinner's voluntary substitute on the Cross by His vicarious death for man's sin. Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day, giving eternal assurance of redemption's full payment and the satisfaction of God's righteous indignation toward sin. He ascended bodily into heaven and he will come to rapture His saints to be with Himself. His coming for His saints is imminent and will be personal, pre-tribulational, and pre-millennial. (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18; John 1:1; 14:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Luke 1:35; 1 Peter 2:22; 3:18) The Person of Holy Spirit We believe the Holy Spirit is the executive of the Godhead. We believe that He executes the Plan of God for our conviction and salvation. Christians are partakers of the Holy Spirit and empowered for service by Him. We believe the Holy Spirit is a person possessing all the attributes of Deity. He convicts the unbelieving world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. He regenerates, seals, indwells, fills the believer and bestows gifts upon believers for service. He teaches the believer and sets him apart for a holy life. We believe the Bible repudiates the charismatic emphasis upon the experiential oriented tongues and ecumenical practices as any ministry of the Holy Spirit. We believe the Holy Spirit is the Commander-in-Chief of missions and that His testimony is not of Himself but Jesus Christ and the redemptive truths centered in Christ. (John 14:16,17; 16:8; 1 Corinthians 3:16; Acts 5:3,4; Ephesians 1:13,14; Romans 8:9) The Fall of Man We believe that man was created in the image of God and by choice fell into sin and death. Hence, every person is sinful and under condemnation to eternal judgment. We believe that man was created by a direct act of God in the image and likeness of his Creator. By disobedience to the revealed will of God, man forfeited his reign over the earth and fell from his created state and standing with God. Therefore, all men are universally sinful both by nature and choice, and are void of the righteousness of God. All men are thus alienated from the life and family of God, without excuse, under the righteous judgment and wrath of God, and have within themselves no possible means of salvation. (Genesis 1:27; Romans 3:23; 5:12-19; Isaiah 53:6; Ephesians 2:1-3). The Salvation of Sinners We believe that the salvation of sinners is wholly of Grace, and that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. We believe in the salvation of man by grace through faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. We believe that salvation is the free gift of God, neither merited nor secured in part nor in whole by any virtue or work of man, but received only by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom all true believers have as a present possession the gift of eternal life, a perfectly righteous standing, sonship in the family of God by a new birth. We believe that the cross of Christ is redemptive, substitutionary, propitiatory and the only basis of reconciliation for all lost men who believe and that there is no possible salvation outside of Jesus Christ and His shed blood. (John 3:3-6, 16;10:28-29; Acts 16:31; Ephesians 2:8-10; 1 Timothy 2:5,6; 1 Peter 1:18-23). The Free Gift of Salvation We believe that the blessings of salvation are made free by the Gospel, that nothing prevents the salvation of the greatest sinner but his own inherent depravity and voluntary rejection of the Gospel. We believe that salvation was accomplished on the cross by Jesus Christ and is extended to all men as a gift to be received by faith. The basis of this salvation is totally the grace that provided the cross. Although all men are responsible to receive the gift of salvation in Christ, only those who respond to the ministry of the Spirit of God in the presentation of the Gospel will be saved. Salvation is the free and completed gift of God to all who will believe. (John 1:12; 3:16; 5:24; 12:46; Acts 16:31; Romans 10:11-13). The Security of a Believer We believe that those who receive Jesus Christ as Savior are eternally secure. Our security rests on the finished work of Jesus Christ. As a result, we have assurance. We believe that the true believer is forever secure as a redeemed possession of God. This security is founded on the full payment of the believer’s sin by the cross of Christ in His substitutionary atonement and God’s proof of receipt of that payment in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The sole condition of salvation is faith in Jesus Christ and His redemptive work. This positive expression of faith has as its negative side repentance and rejection of any other basis of salvation. Therefore, the security of the believer is not conditioned upon his circumstances nor emotional experiences nor strength but it is an acceptance of that basis of reconciliation which has already been accepted by God. The believer is in the possession of God, which is the opposite of lost. He is secure because God has taken the responsibility for His own. (John 10:27-30; 1 John 2:1-2; Romans 8:31-34, 38-39; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Hebrews 2:10). The Church We believe that the visible church is a congregation of baptized believers, practicing New Testament principles, believing its doctrines, observing its ordinances, and exercising its autonomy. We believe that a local church is an organized body of believers immersed upon credible confession of faith in Jesus Christ, recognizing only two offices (filled by pastor and deacon), sovereign in polity, and bonded together for work, worship, mutual edification, observance of the ordinances and the worldwide proclamation of the Gospel. The church is distinct from Israel in the Old Testament, autonomous, with Christ as its head. (Matthew 28:19-20; Ephesians 1:22,23; Acts 2:41-47; Ephesians 4:11-13; 1 Corinthians 12). Heaven and Hell We believe in the eternal blessedness of the saved in Heaven and the eternal punishment of the lost in Hell. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and lost, secured by the bodily resurrection of Christ. The spirits of the saved at death go immediately to be with Christ in heaven, their lives and works shall be evaluated at the Judgment Seat of Christ for the determination of rewards which will take place when Christ comes for His own in the rapture. They will experience the blessedness of God’s presence for all eternity. The spirits of the unsaved at death descend immediately into Hades where they are kept under punishment until the Great White Throne Judgment. At this time, their bodies shall be raised from the grave and be cast into the eternal lake of fire, the place of final and everlasting punishment. (John 5:28,29; 14:2; Revelation 20:14,15; 21:4; Matthew 25:46). Current Trends in Theology As a fundamental group of believers, we take our stand regarding the current trends that lead to discrediting the Bible and undermining the fundamentals of the faith. BIMI takes a separatist stand against Neo-orthodoxy, Neo-evangelicalism, the Ecumenical movement and the modern tongues movement. Return to Top
BIMI's short-term missions program offers many different trips. By joining a Connect team, individuals will have an opportunity to use their talents and abilities for the cause of Christ.
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