An African Baptist Response to the IMB: Part 1

[Bruce Gourley]

Patrick Dube was born in Zimbabwe and "came to the Lord in 1981," after which he attended the Baptist Theological Seminary in Zimbabwe, graduating in with a Doctorate in Theology.

(Note: Patrick Dube is his real name, but it is also a common African name. Googling "Patrick Dube" will return quite a few Africans of the same name, including a scam artist, but you will not find Patrick Dube the Baptist.)

Patrick is married and has three sons. He pastored for 16 years in his home town in Zimbabwe, working for much of that time with the IMB. In 2003, Patrick moved to Botswana, where he is now pastoring a Baptist church not affiliated in any way with the IMB or Southern Baptists.

I have been corresponding with Patrick for several months now, and in the course of our correspondence he has had much to say about IMB work in Africa ... from the persective of an African Baptist. He is discouraged that Southern Baptists in America are not getting a "true picture" of what the IMB is doing in Africa, and is rather upset that the IMB is not being honest with Southern Baptists.

At Patrick's urging, I am sharing his correspondence on BaptistLife.Com. I am breaking it into segments, of which this is the first. What Patrick has to say will be of interest to a number of you, I believe, including Wade Burleson and the cadre of dissident Southern Baptist bloggers.

Patrick periodically references the IMB directly, but oftentime merely speaks of "mission agency" or "agencies," a primary reference to the IMB (again, he worked with the IMB for a number of years), although he acknowledges some other mission agencies share similar shortcomings and issues (he has not worked with CBF missionaries, incidentally). His criticisms of the IMB are known among IMB personnel in Africa, who view him (according to Patrick) as "reactionary."

All the comments below are the exact words of Patrick Dube.

Bruce Gourley

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An African Baptist Response to the IMB, Part One
by Patrick Dube, Botswana

Internal policies on Missions
When mission agencies draw up their internal policy documents for their organization, there is the danger of being short-sighted about the realities on the mission field. Internal policies may create a hindrance for the missionary personnel that are recruited by that mission agency which may result in the potential personnel turning away and looking for other mission agencies or they will accept the terms and policies half-heartedly. While the offer of retirement benefits may be an incentive to assure personnel that they will be looked after in the future, the same benefit may cause a person to be casual about their commitment to missions and see the mission field as a job opportunity.

Foreign policies on Missions
The mission agencies need to have a balanced foreign policy that is not mixed with American politics. Mission agencies are not sending missionaries onto the mission field to carry out American political foreign policies and be agents of intelligence for the US administration. Agencies have to teach their missionaries that they are not superior people going to enlighten inferior people groups around the world. The reason the USA is in trouble with many countries around the globe is because of their government policy, written or unwritten, which makes America think it must be the policeman for democracy for the rest of the world. The IMB is in trouble with many Conventions and Unions around the world because they think they are indispensable tools for reaching nations with the gospel.

Translation of mission policies on the mission field
Mission agencies do not share their internal and foreign mission policies with Conventions/Unions on the mission field. This leaves the missionaries with the prerogative to interpret their own organizational policies to their local counterparts and the obvious ensues. The locals trust the missionaries so much and believe that they are telling them the full story. While locals “trust” missionaries so much, the missionaries don’t always trust the locals. Convention/Union leaders and their pastors should be educated on mission agency policies so that there is a transparent working relationship between missionaries and local leaders. I often wonder how missionaries work with a free conscience when they lie so much about their policies.

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[Joseph Patrick]

[Ed Pettibone]

[Bruce Gourley]