IMB missionaries are sent on mission by both a local church and a convention of churches. Each missionary is called by God in the context of a local church who sends and supports the missionary, much like the church at Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas in Acts 13. In order for such a church to send a missionary through the IMB, that church must be “in friendly cooperation with the general Southern Baptist enterprise of reaching the world for Christ.” In that sense, then, the same IMB missionary is sustained and supported not only by one church alone, but also by the convention of churches who are cooperatively praying and giving for the sending of missionaries.