"A Study of the Difference in Mean Ranks of Selected Factors Influencing a Call to Career Missionary Service Among Three Groups Affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention." 

Mission(s) and mission education have always played a significant role in the life of Southern Baptists. A recent study conducted by Debra Bigler for a doctoral dissertation at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary focused on the factors which influence a call to career missionary service.

• The three groups were:
  • seminary students preparing for a career in missionary service (enrolled in missiology degree programs at five SBC seminaries);
  • career missionaries currently serving with the International Mission Board (IMB) or the North American Mission Board (NAMB); and
  • retired missionaries from both the IMB and NAMB.

A researcher-designed survey instrument was validated by three mission teams at NAMB and then sent out in both online and mailed formats.

• The instrument listed eleven factors developed from a literature search. These factors were:
  
  

  Personal Prayer/ Devotion	Missionary Speaker/ Biography	Youth Mission Program
  Pastor/Teacher	Parent/Family	Group Bible Study
  Mission Trip/ Project	Children's Mission Program	Other Children's Program
  Adult Mission Program	Other

  
   The Other category allowed for qualitative responses that were not covered in the previous factors.

The mean ranks for each of the eleven factors were compared across the three groups.

• Six of the eleven factors were significantly different.
• The top three factors ranked by the retired group were:
  1. Adult Mission Program,
  2. Missionary Speaker/Biography, and
  3. Children's Mission Program.
     
• For the career group the ranks were: 
  1. Personal Prayer/Devotion,
  2. Youth Mission Program, and
  3. Other. Under the factor Other, respondents listed Baptist Student Union, Baptist Student Ministries, and Glorieta Baptist Encampment and Ridgecrest Baptist Encampment often.
     
• The student group ranked the top three as: 
  • Mission Trip/Project,
  • Personal Prayer/Devotion, and
  • Parent/Family. 

The study consisted of 1405 respondents. After removing those with missing data, the total used was 1339. Demographic information showed 863 male and 472 female respondents.

• The age at time of call question revealed 451 felt the call before the age of 20 and 849 after the age of twenty.
• The age at the time of the survey question results were pretty evenly divided across six age groups: 20-29 (225); 30-39 (180); 40-49 (246); 50-59 (279); 60-69 (221); and 70+ (192).

Study results revealed that each factor had an influence on a decision to pursue a call to career missionary service.

• Remarkably, all three areas of mission education were in the top three ranks.

Mission education has played a vital role in the past, and will continue to do so in the future even though different approaches may be used. This study revealed a generational shift from hearing about missions to having more hands-on involvement. Just as each learner has a unique learning style, educators must address these differences when teaching for mission education. Careful consideration should be given by church leaders to deliberately teach those in their circle of influence about the importance of responding to God's call to serve at home or around the world. Such intentional focus on carrying out the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20) will ensure that future generations are influenced to follow a call to career missionary service.

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