Any church that is committed to right worship and faithful application of Scripture will take the Great Commission seriously. After all, Matthew 28:18-20 isn’t a recommendation. The Great Commission is just as normative as our call to be holy (1 Peter 1:15-16) and our command to love one another (John 13:34-35).
From the beginning of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845, the churches associated with it were committed to evangelism and missions. 180 years later, the SBC continues to affirm this imperative priority in Article XI of its most recent statement of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000:
It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations. The new birth of man’s spirit by God’s Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others. Missionary effort on the part of all rests thus upon a spiritual necessity of the regenerate life, and is expressly and repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the preaching of the Gospel to all nations. It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the Gospel of Christ.
In light of the privilege and duty to endeavor to make disciples of all nations, the SBC—of which Summit Woods Baptist is a participating church—has given significant thought, effort, and time to facilitating its participating churches’ engagement in the Great Commission. Over time, the International Mission Board (IMB) and the North American Mission Board (NAMB) have emerged as the two primary institutions that help to facilitate every SBC church’s local and worldwide engagement in fulfilling the Great Commission.
Through the IMB, Southern Baptists support 3,500 missionaries and church planters overseas, while the NAMB is focused on evangelism and church planting in the United States, its territories, and Canada. Together, the IMB and NAMB also assist with various social relief programs, including initiatives to fight human trafficking, provide support in the wake of crises, and channel humanitarian aid to refugees and nations affected by famine.
NAMB’s primary task is facilitating and empowering church planting. By means of the Send Network, NAMB recruits, trains, and provides ongoing support to church planters in their task to both start and revitalize Gospel churches in underserved areas. Since 2010, over 11,000 churches have been planted in conjunction with the Send Network, with 80% of those church plants surviving beyond four years.
More broadly, NAMB is also committed to encouraging personal and corporate evangelism in SBC churches. NAMB does this by providing training in how to evangelize, through hosting evangelism-focused events, and by creating and distributing resources for evangelism.
With an estimated 281 million lost souls in North America, NAMB’s work through the Send Network and its focus on evangelism present a significant need for financial resources. NAMB is funded by the traditional Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, as well as the SBC’s Cooperative Program. According to the Missouri Baptist Convention Book of Reports (2024), out of every dollar that we at SWBC contribute to the Cooperative Program, nine cents are channeled to NAMB.
Ultimately, NAMB is a broad organization within the Southern Baptist Convention that provides resources, assistance, and opportunities for cooperation as SWBC seeks to take the Gospel to the world, starting at home.
Given SWBC’s connection to NAMB through our participation in the Southern Baptist Convention, here are some specific ways to pray for NAMB and our relationship with it:
1. Thank the Lord for generations of believers who have faithfully given their time, treasure, and efforts to further Gospel labors in North America. Thank God for how He has used NAMB as a resource to help raise up Gospel churches and expand His witness.
- Pray for the many NAMB-associated individuals and churches who are working to proclaim the Gospel across this continent. NAMB provides excellent information to identify their cooperating ministries, and these can help you be specific and knowledgeable in your prayer.
- Pray for the Missions Team at SWBC (Campbell Bortel, Bret Capranica, Ben Gardner, Brett Harris, and Dalton Vansell), that they would make well-considered recommendations to SWBC regarding how to use the resources and partnerships available to us through our association with NAMB.
- Pray that the Lord of the Harvest would continue to raise up and send out workers from SWBC to His plentiful harvest (Mattew 9:37-38) in Lee’s Summit and beyond.