International Mission Board Recruiting Teachers, Health Care Workers and Business Professionals to Serve as Missionaries, Saying Many Roles Go Unfilled
The International Mission Board (IMB), headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is recruiting teachers, health care workers, counselors, accountants, logistics specialists and member-care personnel to serve as missionaries overseas. Leaders of the Southern Baptist mission agency say many of the roles go unfilled because they fall outside traditional perceptions of missionary service.
Doreen Baker, the IMB's director of education for missionary children, spent 25 years teaching in Asia. She said the need for educators is constant, in international schools and other settings serving missionary families, and that teachers are an integral part of the missionary task.
Scott Ray, the IMB's senior director of global deployment, said professional skills provide practical ministry support and can also open access to countries where traditional missionary visas are difficult to obtain, with opportunities for finance professionals, veterinarians, medical workers, Send Relief personnel and others.
Health care is among the most strategic areas of need. Tom Hicks, the IMB's director of global health strategies, said fields in demand include family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics, pediatric nurse practitioners, obstetrics providers, physical and occupational therapists, speech pathologists and lactation consultants, with a particular need for pediatric care in sub-Saharan Africa, where populations are young.
Member care is another often-overlooked field: Chris Martin, the IMB's director of global member care, said such missionaries, often from counseling backgrounds, help front-line missionaries navigate stress, conflict and grief. Information on the different roles is available on the IMB website.
International Mission Board 'Get Involved' page on missionary roles
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 弗吉尼亚州里士满市景（资料图），国际宣教理事会总部所在地。CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The skyline of Richmond, Virginia, home of the International Mission Board's headquarters (file photo). CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
