October 3, 2026
RICHMOND, Va. — Southern Baptist missionaries have braved some dire circumstances over the past year to share the gospel in the tiniest of African villages to the largest of Asian cities and nearly every place in between.
In a year-end report, the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board thanked churches for their financial support that keeps missionaries on the field.
IMB said those churches gave $196.1 million through the Lottie Moon Christmas offering, a special offerings churches collect specially for missions.
"Because of big and small churches working together to generously give, missionaries and their local partners shared the gospel with 728,589 people," the year-end report said.
The IMB now has 3,515 missionaries, plus their families, and 103 global missionary partners deployed around the world, the report said.
"They’re equipped and encouraged through Southern Baptists who band together to pray, give, go and send," the report said.
IMB said the most recent numbers show 1,300 aspiring missionaries are now in the pipeline for deployment overseas.
"Sending Celebrations are a highlight of what we do," the report said. "We send your newly appointed missionaries to the nations. Southern Baptists rally around the appointees, hearing their stories and praying for them as they embark on a mission to share the good news with those who have never heard. Nearly 250 full-time missionary appointees were honored in the four Sending Celebrations conducted in 2023."
John Brady, IMB's vice president of global operations, said bringing the gospel to the world’s lost has always been a part of the IMB’s 178-year history.
“With the support of Southern Baptists, IMB is launching a pioneering initiative called Project 3000, through which we will send out 300 missionary explorers over five years to scout out 10 unengaged, unreached people groups each,” Brady said.
The IMB also honored missionaries who retired this year.
"This year’s retiring missionary emeriti represented service in more than 40 countries," IMB said in the year-end report. "They set the bar high, as IMB President Paul Chitwood noted in a sermon addressing both missionary emeriti and new missionaries preparing for their first term."
The year-end report said IMB missionaries see the devastation of natural disasters, war and lostness every day.
"This year has been marked by crisis response," the report said. "Because you give through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, the Cooperative Program and Send Relief (the joint compassion ministry arm of IMB and the North American Mission Board), your missionaries are ready to respond in regions around them. Send Relief continues to provide aid to survivors of each of these crises.
Send Relief personnel responded to a deadly magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Turkey and northern Syria in February. They've ministered to people impacted by fighting in Sudan, where more than 1.1 million people have had to leave their homes.
Send Relief also helped survivors of a devastating 6.8-magnitude earthquake in Morocco, deadly flooding in Libya, and war in the Holy Land.
"We are not mere spectators," the year-end report said. "We don’t just see headlines. We see people. They are injured, frightened, missing. They are lost. As this crisis unfolded, we did not ignore it, and we did not stand still. Instead, we continue to cry out to God on their behalf, asking Him to bring true peace as only He can."
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