Attending IMB Missions College can benefit all Southern Baptist churches. This event offers hands-on training for pastors, church leaders, mission trip participants and church members who are engaged in short-term missions or who are interested in partnering with field missionaries. The next IMB Missions College will be Jan. 22-25, 2025, in Richmond, Virginia.

Presenters representing all eight IMB affinities will attend Missions College. Lloyd Rodgers, IMB missionary who helps facilitate this experience, emphasized it’s a major IMB-wide training event on the calendar.

Participants in the IMB Missions College engage with six components of the missionary task. The activity involved figuring out how and when it’s necessary to abide in Christ and how each component interacts. IMB Photo

A major part of Missions College is learning the components of the missionary task: Entry, Evangelism, Disciple Making, Church Planting, Leadership Development and Exit to Partnership. Church leaders who attend are encouraged to learn this IMB framework, which can enhance missions involvement at their churches.

Lloyd Rodgers speaks during a recent Missions College event. Rodgers finds strategic value in sharing the missionary task with Missions College participants. IMB Photo

“Talking about the whole missionary task from entry to exit and helping them understand that is a process that can take some time,” Rodgers said, noting if churches commit to reach a certain people group or a certain location of the world, understanding the missionary task will enhance their commitment.

“I love it when participants get that ‘a-ha’ moment of what they thought was missions and realizing it involves a lot more,” he said.

Esther Yu, center, and her husband, David, travelled from Sherman Oaks, California to participate in a recent Missions College event. In the “Sending Church” workshop breakout, Esther shared the ways their church actively participates in missions and how they help to foster a culture of engagement in missions with their church members. IMB Photo

Along with learning the missionary task, participants will develop skills and gain knowledge needed to effectively engage the lost in cross-cultural settings. The Missions College program facilitates interaction and builds relationships with IMB missionaries and staff from a variety of affinities, as well as other Southern Baptists who are passionate for missions.

Church members who have an interest in mission work have made multiple appearances. Brent Waldrep, IMB diaspora research strategist, recommended return trips to Missions College.

“In the first year [of attending Missions College] you’ve learned the basics,” Waldrep said. “And then you come back another year, and you’re a little bit more advanced. You choose a different session to be in and have chances to talk to more missionaries.”

Those who attend 2025 IMB Missions College will interact with missionaries who are serving on the field. IMB Photo

Connections and investments are made with missionaries that last for years, and church leaders and members often feel more involved with what is happening in other countries for reaching the spiritually lost.

“People do return because they really love missions,” Waldrep said. “They love the lost.
They love the idea of missions.”

For more information on registration and how churches and missions-minded individuals can connect with IMB missionaries at Missions College and be effectively equipped to spread the gospel visit here.

The work of the IMB is sustained through faithful giving of Southern Baptists through the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®.