Baylor University and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship have announced a new partnership that involves the Baptist network placing three missions experts at the Texas-based academic institution.
In a press release shared with The Christian Post, CBF noted that three global missions field personnel will be at Baylor in time for the start of the fall semester.
The selected personnel have experience serving in missions in Southeast Asia and Northern Africa, and will speak to classes as well as occasionally teach courses at Baylor.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.
One of the three, Karen Zimmerman, will serve as minister for Student Formation and Community Engagement for Open Table, an entity within the Baylor Division of Student Life.
Baylor President Linda A. Livingstone said in a statement emailed to CP that the new partnership will help “fulfill our mission of educating men and women for worldwide leadership and service through the integration of academic excellence and Christian commitment within a caring community.”
“A year ago we expanded the University’s longstanding motto — Pro Ecclesia (for the church), Pro Texana (for Texas) — to include Pro Mundo (for the world),” she explained.
“This partnership is certainly an extension of our strategic priority to prepare students to live in a global, caring society and share God’s love worldwide, and we look forward to working with CBF in support of these efforts.”
CBF Executive Coordinator Paul Baxley said in a statement emailed to CP that the three missionaries being placed at Baylor “are a first faithful step toward inviting a new generation of young adults to find their place in the mission of God.”
“We know the students who benefit from these ministries will one day be field personnel around the world and pastors of congregations across our Fellowship and beyond,” he explained.
“The chance to engage students in deep faith in Christ and participation in his mission of bringing good news to the poor, release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind is a holy privilege.”
A network of Baptist congregations, CBF traces its origins to the early 1990s, when a group of churches and pastors left the Southern Baptist Convention due to the resurgence of theologically conservative leaders.
“Our understanding of Baptist faith and practice is expressed by our emphasis on freedom in biblical interpretation and congregational governance, the participation of women and men in all aspects of church leadership and Christian ministry, and religious liberty for all people,” explains the CBF on its website.
“CBF is innovative congregations, gifted and called field personnel bearing witness to Jesus Christ around the world, nearly 1,200 endorsed chaplains and pastoral counselors, 15 state and regional organizations, dozens of theological schools and partner organizations and so much more.”
