The GCR Task Force believes the North American Mission Board exists to assist churches in penetrating the lostness of North America. The 258 million lost people that live on this continent need to have the opportunity to hear the Gospel and become a part of a spiritual family. This is why the recommendations of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force suggest increasing resources to areas where two-thirds of the population of North America resides.

Praise

We need to praise the Lord for the number of people who have met Christ and the number of churches that exist in the southern part of the United States. It is incredible that we have millions of Christ-followers engaged in our churches. We do not need to bemoan this, but praise the Lord for it.

It does not matter if they have small attendances or large attendances, whether they sing hymns or choruses, or dress casually or formally. Any emphasis on those things takes away from the God-sized work God has done in the southern part of the United States. It is humbling to know that many of us have been a part of this movement.

Above all, this work is a glory to our Savior. It is also a commendation to the thousands of our churches in the south. As well, it is a tribute to our state conventions that assist churches located in the southern part of the United States.

Reality

We are faced with a grim reality that not only is there lostness in the southern part of North America, but there is a high proportion of lostness outside the southern states. Unreached and underserved regions abound in North America.

Terry Robertson, Executive Director of the Baptist Convention of New York, informed me that in his assigned territory alone where 28 million people dwell, 27 million of them are in need of experiencing new life in Christ. This staggering number is more than the total population in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Missouri. In 2008, this convention had only 343 churches with a resident membership of 11,931 people.

This story could be repeated over and over again by each leader of our state conventions outside the south. We could talk about San Francisco, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Chicago, Montreal, Ontario, Boston, and the list could continue. We could talk about underserved regions like Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, and that list could go on and on.

However, the story is the same. North America is lost spiritually and something must be done about it.

Access

Due to the great work of our Lord and His people, much of the south has access to the Gospel. Obviously, there are many places in the south that are filled with vast lostness like Miami, New Orleans, Austin, and yes, that list could continue. Lostness does exist in the south; however, access to the Gospel is more probable due to the number of churches present already.

Does this mean that people in the south are less lost than people outside the south? Does this mean we do not need to plant more churches in the south? Absolutely not! Lostness is lostness regardless of where it is, and church planting movements need to occur regardless of geographical location.

The GCR Task Force believes we must create greater access to the Gospel where two-thirds of the population exists in North America. The churches and conventions in the south can work to reach the south with great intensity and intentionality. While they are doing that, we pray they will mobilize and help finance a missional movement to the two-thirds of the North American population. We believe the churches in the south will desire greatly to not only reach their region or state, but the regions of North America where lostness abounds.

Strategic Partnerships

In our final report, we call upon the North American Mission Board to penetrate lostness in partnership with state conventions located in the most unreached and underserved populations of North America. The North American Mission Board can do little to nothing on its own. It needs partners in the Gospel with churches and state conventions. We must work together.

We see these strategic partnerships being integrated. This means that the strategy would be determined through collaboration of all the partners whether they be local churches, local associations, or state conventions. Surely the people who are “the boots on the ground” will have a much better understanding of contextualization than even a missiologist who works in Alpharetta, Georgia. Together they can strategize to penetrate lostness through all kinds of evangelistic strategies and church planting.

We see these strategic partnerships committed to pushing back on lostness. We believe Southern Baptists finance the work of our mission boards because they want to see our churches present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every person in the world and make disciples of all the nations.

We see these strategic partnerships mobilizing and funding both jointly funded and directly funded missionaries. How they are financed is the role of the North American Mission Board, but the GCR Task Force wants our missionaries assigned and committed to one goal – penetrating the lostness of North America.

Who Wins?

When the Gospel goes where the Gospel has never been before, it is a win. Anyone connected to that kind of movement wins.

The churches in the south win because they join on mission to not only reach their own region, but North America and the world. The conventions in the south win because they have the privilege to ask the churches to step up like never before to penetrate not only the lostness of their state, but lostness across North America and the world. Will there be sacrifice? Yes, but that sacrifice is minimized when you are able to be a part of something that is much bigger than you. The reward will be huge here and in eternity.

The churches and state conventions outside of the south win. If the GCR recommendations are adopted, more resources are on the way to help reach those regions and states for Christ. If your church or association or state convention is about reaching lost people and planting Gospel churches, help is on the way!

The biggest winners will be the people who are transformed by the power of Jesus Christ. The biggest winners will be the regions in North America where Gospel churches are planted and then those new Gospel churches plant even more Gospel churches…

Help is on the way!