Mission Focus among CBFVA

[Dave Roberts]

There is an excellent article on CBF of Virginia and what their mission identity is about. I'm proud to see this developing.

http://www.religiousherald.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5967&Itemid=43

[Ed Pettibone]

There is an excellent article on CBF of Virginia and what their mission identity is about. I'm proud to see this developing.

http://www.religiousherald.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5967&Itemid=43

Dave, VA deserves to be proud of this!

Now to drop the other shoe.

However In my first two readings I felt an uneasiness that I could not identify but now I think I see it. To me it is in this paragraph;

Although ministry to Latinos is this year’s focus, Fox says the emphasis will vary from year to year. Subject to approval by the CBFVA’s board, “Next year we will focus on the exploding church growth in China,” he adds.

Gene would call it "nit picky", but I see it as problematic. "It" here is the idea of "ministry to Latinos" I would much rather see "ministry with Latinos" To many of us "ministry to" smacks of old time SBC paternalism.

Again the need is great and may God bless you all in your efforts. I was embarrassed not to long ago when I had a call from a man looking for a Hispanic Baptist service in this area and I knew of non. Worse yet I have become convinced after exhaustion of my resources that other than our ABC hit and miss, migrant ministries at harvest time there is no solid Baptist Hispanic witness in the surrounding area. The assumption is "they are all Catholic"

[Haruo]

I agree, Ed, it's nitpicky, but it picks an important nit. Ministry "to" and ministry "with" are sometimes quite different things, and when they are, the former is almost always a less good thing than the latter.