Heritage Baptist Coalition was established to better support specific national-led ministries in developing countries. The projects of HBC are multi-level opportunities to assist and help fund causes that are performed more effectively by nationals than by Americans.
Consider that the average missionary from the United States takes more than two years and $100,000 to raise support and arrive at their foreign ministry. Often, more than 70 churches are needed to fund them and prepare them for their first term. It then takes another four years for them to proficiently learn the culture and foreign language. After two terms, fifty percent will change fields. When the missionary moves, the American money goes with him.
HBC, on the other hand, supports a limited number of nationals. They are vetted college graduates who have started a ministry in the culture with the language they know. They have no other American supporting agency.
A Non-Traditional Mission Board
The service of HBC may be classified as a “non-traditional” mission board. If a “traditional” board is one which sends and supports American missionaries, then HBC certainly qualifies as being non-traditional. The main focus of HBC is to encourage, train, and support the work of nationals from Asia and other areas in the 10/40 Window.
This approach is vital to world missions because more than half of the world’s population is cut off from traditional missionary work. Vast areas of the Middle East and Asia in the 10/40 Window have little or no traditional missionary work due to government restrictions. Most inhabitants of the Islamic, Buddhist, and Hindu worlds will never hear the gospel from Western missionaries but, would hear it from another Arab or Asian.
Good non-traditional mission agencies are being organized as church and mission leaders realize the urgency of getting the gospel into places where Americans cannot go. This is a very positive trend in modern missions, one that should be encouraged in all levels of ministry.