Southern Baptists' number of overseas missionaries drops by nearly 1,000
One out of five Southern Baptist missionaries overseas—or nearly 1,000 total—have volunteered to leave their posts to help the denomination’s mission board deal with its financial straits. That’s in addition to the departure of a third of the staff of the International Mission Board, also mostly through a voluntary program.
“This number exceeds what we needed,” said IMB president David Platt at a trustee meeting February 24. But he said the departure of 983 missionaries means the mission board will be in improved financial health.
Last August, leaders of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination announced that the board would need to cut up to 800 employees, after spending a total of $210 million more than it had received since 2010.
