COLUMBIA – Messengers to the 2023 CMBA Annual Meeting formally adopted a five-year missions partnership with International Mission Board (IMB) personnel serving in Central Spain. Mission team scheduling is set to begin in 2024.
As stated in the adopted partnership agreement:
“Our mission at CMBA is to help Baptist churches in the Midlands of South Carolina fulfill the Great Commission together. With a kingdom-focused desire to invest in and support our Southern Baptist Missionaries who share our passion, our association seeks to facilitate a collaborative, synergistic five-year partnership with the IMB teams in Central Spain and work across affinity groups to accelerate the fulfillment of the Great Commission together in this strategic part of Europe and beyond.”
Following the vote, Associational Missions Strategist Jamie Rogers said he is “eager to see how God is going to use our collaborative work in Central Spain to grow His kingdom. We are ready to get started in this partnership, and know that God is already at work ahead of us in this endeavor.”
In early 2023, a CMBA vision team visited several European countries to identify potential partner locations. They unanimously recommended Central Spain as offering easy travel accessibility, regions that are home to multiple people groups, and service opportunities for teams of all ages. The entire CMBA Family of Churches is encouraged to participate in this partnership, especially members without regular access to international missions.
“I desire to see Baptists involved in missions around the world, and this partnership is a way our association can connect CMBA individuals and churches looking to serve in new ways, or perhaps the first time,” Rogers said. “As we became aware of the evangelism and missions needs across Europe, I truly believe it’s the ‘forgotten mission field.’”
Once officially signed into action, the partnership agreement states: that CMBA will commit to praying, sending, providing, and caring; and, that Central Spain Affinity Teams will commit to visiting, sharing, connecting, and equipping. The agreement is mutually non-binding and “not intended to be a contractual arrangement, but rather a cooperative arrangement to enable the expansion of the Gospel and the fulfillment of the Great Commission. This partnership, entered into in good faith by the undersigned, can be modified as God leads and as we seek God’s heart together.”
Once formalized, CMBA will announce mission partnership plans and processes to churches and through its website at www.ColumbiaMetro.org.