IMB missionary Amber Sroka talks with Edgar who lives with his family at an Indigenous center in Brasilia, Brazil. Southern Baptists supported around 3,600 missionaries and 3,000 missionary kids in 2025 in our cooperative task of taking the gospel to those who need to hear. IMB Photo
Sending people to the nations is what we do as Southern Baptists. We go to those who have yet to hear the gospel. This year has been filled with stories of how, together, we address lostness as the world’s greatest problem.
Let’s look through some highlights of how God transformed lives through you and your International Mission Board missionaries in 2025:
Sending Missionaries
We sent missionaries to all parts of the world. We believe the best way to reach a lost world is to live in community with those who need a relationship with Jesus Christ. Southern Baptists have been faithful to support the nearly 3,600 missionaries and 3,000 missionary kids in the IMB family. The number of missionary applications continued to rise to 1,627 in the pipeline.
We gathered four different times for Southern Baptist churches to send 182 new long-term, fully funded missionaries. Many of these missionaries brought their professional career with them as accountants, IT workers, doctors and more.
Thank you, Southern Baptist Convention, First Baptist Charleston, South Carolina, Ironbridge Church, Chesterfield, Virginia and Southcrest Baptist Church, Lubbock, Texas, for hosting everyone’s favorite event —Sending Celebrations.
Read a Sending Celebration story
The very first group of Journeymen participants pose for a group photo in 1965. IMB Photo
We celebrated SIX decades of the Journeyman program. The first group of young adults, ages 21-29, were sent as a “Peace Corps-inspired initiative” on June 19, 1965. The program is still going strong with Journeymen serving two to three years on missionary teams. Through 60 years, more than 6,500 young adults have been sent around the world to proclaim the good news of Jesus.
Read 6 decades of Journeyman program equals eternal impact
Missions is for ALL ages
Jesus’ command to go to the nations is for everyone—no matter their age. This year, we’ve seen all age groups active in sharing the gospel and supporting those who go. From children to young adults to senior adults, Southern Baptists are responding to the call to pray, give, go and send.
Youth lab teams pose for a photo in Budapest, Hungary. Teenagers flew from churches across the U.S. to participate in the labs, which is a five-day program for high school students to learn about missions. Photo Provided
Larry McCallon has been on 108 mission trips. While he has done everything from evangelism to human needs projects, his favorite thing to do is serve at meetings and retreats for missionary kids and their families. IMB Photo
The IMB brought back a beloved pathway to the mission field for those ages 55+ called the Masters’ Program. The fully funded, two-year position allows retirees to leverage their career, gifts and skills doing kingdom work around the globe.
Read IMB missionary couple devotes retirement years
Another program, called Missions Residency, was launched that focuses on giving young adults global experience in living life on mission while being mentored by IMB missionaries. With the initial launch of the program, 44 missionary residents joined missionary teams around the world for a semester or a year.
Read IMB’s Missions Residency program equips young adults
Larry McCallon, an 86-year-old who has now been on 108 mission trips, encouraged all ages to take their first short term mission trip. “Take your pills, aches and pains and go to where the Lord is working.”
IMB missionary Landon Williams, left, connects volunteer teams to long-term mission strategies to reach the lost in Chile with the gospel. IMB Photo
Short-Term Mission Trips
The number of Southern Baptists going on short-term mission trips steadily increased. Roughly 13,608 volunteers participated in international mission trips this year, serving alongside your IMB missionaries. We celebrate these partnerships and opportunities to carry the gospel to those who need to hear.
Volunteers were involved in many ways throughout the year, stepping out of their comfort zones to share the love of Jesus. One small Illinois church mentored and discipled a South Asian church in their church-planting efforts.
Christa Keener, a member of First Baptist Church, O’Fallon, Missouri, leads a game on a mission trip to Brazil. FBC O’Fallon sent a volunteer missions team to work alongside IMB missionaries in Brasilia. IMB Photo
A special women’s mission trip through the IMB brought together 26 women from 12 states and 20 churches. They learned the purpose of the Lord is to use them for His glory in just the right place at just the right time.
Read Women witness God’s purposes
For the first time, short-term volunteers and IMB missionaries partnered to make connections and share the gospel during Deaflympics. More than 50 volunteers from eight different countries spent weeks in Tokyo. The gospel was shared more than 200 times and these volunteers and missionaries engaged with more than 500 people from 30 countries.
Read Tokyo Deaflympics provides abundant opportunities
Global Partnerships
Your partnership continued to make disciples who make disciples. This year, many of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world took significant steps to send missionaries and carry out the Great Commission beyond their own borders. Your IMB missionaries hosted teams of volunteers from various countries to help introduce the missionary task.
We invited global partners to the missionary training facility outside of Richmond, Virginia, to share knowledge between IMB and other Baptist mission sending conventions. Representatives from Brazil and South Korea’s Baptist conventions participated in the seven-week training.
The only way to have access to 100% of unengaged, unreached people groups is through a network of global partners. The IMB doesn’t have direct access to every part of the world, yet these areas are accessible by at least one key global sending partner. Many of these partners were once the mission field and now your IMB missionaries help them become multiplying churches who, like you, send to the nations.
Read Latin American Baptists take step in sending to the nations
Thank you for being such an important part of these 2025 highlights. The work of the IMB is sustained through faithful giving of Southern Baptists through the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®. Together, we celebrate that the name of Jesus is being exalted in places it has never before been proclaimed.