It started with Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Then the Great Commission—Go ye therefore—followed by the missionary journeys of Paul, the testimonies of career missionaries, the study of mission work around the world, and then a semester doing inner city mission work. I was a missionary. My call to missions began in infancy, my Christian infancy, that is.

As I learned the stories of the 19th and early 20th century Baptists who responded to the call of God to circle the globe with the gospel, I grew to understand why my mother always identified our church as a “missionary Baptist” church. Compelled by the love of Jesus for all, Baptists have never been able to imagine a world not having that awareness. Neither could we bear a world of individuals created in the image of God who suffer or are treated unjustly. We have a heart for missions.

The Alliance formed around a covenant embodying distinctly Baptist principles. Not long after its inception the Alliance responded to the guidance of the Spirit to bear witness to a God who has abundant compassion for those living in the margins—the poor, the oppressed, the disenfranchised.  With a heart for missions, the Bridges of Hope Mission Offering was born.

And with that new creation the Alliance set out to do missions in partnership and in collaboration.
•No longer are we the experts on the mission field. Rather, we approach our mission partners knowing they have much to teach us about growing a vital and healthy church.
•No longer do we own the missions project; we network with others to provide the energies to meet the needs more fully.
•No longer are persons of other faiths targets for evangelism; they are persons whose spirituality and wisdom we value and with whom we seek to pray, serve and develop understanding.
•No longer do we do missions from a position of being the majority with power, but rather from a position of being in the margins and powerless.
• No longer is missions the work of select missionary personnel. All of us are missionaries.

Missions that is done in partnership and in collaboration is what our young people today are cutting their teeth on as they journey to visit a sister church in Cuba, work in the summer program at the Rauschenbusch Center at Metro Baptist Church in New York City, or serve at Strive based at Ellis Avenue Baptist Church in Chicago. Each of these ministries are mission partners with the Alliance.

The 2009 Bridges of Hope Missions Offering supports 29 glocal (new word I heard a few weeks ago that fits us!!) organizations whose mission and ministries are consistent with those of the Covenant and Mission Statement of the Alliance of Baptists. The contributions we give them often make the difference in whether they can continue their ministry. The Alliance heart for missions is in response to our desire to be of service in and to the world around us. Our thinking globally allows others to proclaim the love of Jesus locally.

glo•cal |
adjective
By definition, the term “glocal” refers to the individual, group, division, unit, organization and community willing and able to “think globally and act locally.”