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  IMB Restructure: To Affinity and Beyond (Geographic Boundaries)
 By Scott Pittman - September 25, 2009		  
     
  In keeping with their shift of focus from traditional political boundaries to people groups of the world, last year the IMB made a major structure change (IMB Structure Change Mobilizes More Churches). Eight primary global affinity groups were identified by IMB to encompass the 11,000 plus known people groups worldwide. A ninth affinity group targets the world’s deaf population.  
     
  To help Southern Baptists better understand these groups, the IMB has added a new section to their website called, “Peoples Around the World” (click to go there). This section helps to better visualize the concept of the affinity groups and understand where each are located.  
     
  When you open the webpage there is a world map with numbers 1-9 above it. As you run the cursor over the numbers, a watermark image appears which identifies the name of that affinity group and highlights the map to indicate where members of this group can be found. Click on the number to open the page for that affinity group. There you will find a brief description of the group and pictures of people representative of the group. On their respective page, each group is divided into equal halves to show where the largest concentration exists. The world map reflects these two halves in two different colors. Under each half the countries within these areas are listed. You can click on that country to be taken to an IMB missionary website in that area to find out more information about a specific group in which you are interested.  
     
     
  First Time It Started  
     
  Missionaries, new affinity group honored at Southern Baptist Conference of Deaf  
  8/4/2009 by Emilee Brandon  
     
  RIDGECREST, N.C. (BP)--A sometimes forgotten people group has stepped into the spotlight as one of IMB’s (International Mission Board’s) affinity groups. The Southern Baptist Conference of the Deaf celebrated this milestone, along with its first commissioning service honoring eight IMB missionaries, July 26 during its annual meeting at LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina.  
     
  Seven of the missionaries were recommissioned to another term of service; the eighth is going to the mission field after short-term volunteer service.  
     
  The missionaries are among more than 5,600 other Southern Baptist personnel worldwide, including 32 missionaries who use sign languages from various countries to share the Gospel with Deaf peoples. Of the 32, eight are Deaf.  
     
  The Deaf are one of nine affinity groups — large groups of related peoples that share similar origins, languages and cultures — outlined in IMB’s reorganization.  
     
  Matthew and Virginia Stuart,* veteran missionaries and Deaf affinity group leaders, want to recruit Deaf to serve in ministry, empower them to reach other Deaf communities and then go to places with the most need. Within five years, they hope to increase the number of missionaries to the Deaf to 200, including at least 150 Deaf workers.  
     
 
“We are committed to … lead efforts to bring Christ to every corner of the Deaf world,” Matthew said.

The identification of the Deaf as an affinity group has not only opened doors for more outreach to the Deaf, it also has opened the hearts of Deaf who never thought they could or would be involved in missions.

“When we first moved to Russia, Deaf Russians told us they couldn’t have a Deaf church,” signed Tex Winsome,* one of the missionaries commissioned at the service. “When we asked them why, the answer was always, ‘the hearing people tell us we can’t because God doesn’t call invalids into ministry.’”

Tex and his wife, Margaret,* have spent more than seven years trying to discourage this mentality. “We planted a Deaf church, and as a result, three more Deaf churches have been established,” Tex said.

For years, the people the Winsomes worked with lost hope because they focused on what people told them they couldn’t do instead of what they could do. “Today the Deaf of Russia have begun to understand that there is hope that the Deaf can,” Tex said.

IMB President Jerry Rankin told conference participants that “your deafness is not a handicap. It is a gift from God to be used to reach others for Christ with that uniqueness that only you have.”

With this unique gift, Rankin said, each person has the potential to reach multitudes of Deaf for the Gospel. Jason Shifflett, one of those attending the conference, hopes to fulfill that potential.

Although Shifflett is not Deaf, he grew up between two cultures — his mom is hearing, his dad is Deaf. “My first language (was) sign language,” the 20-something said.

“It’s really given me a unique position,” he said of his dual upbringing. “I don’t want [it] to go to waste, ever.”

Shifflett, who attends Deaf Fellowship Church in Grove, Okla., came forward after the commissioning service to learn more about Deaf missions opportunities abroad.
  
     
     
     
  E-mail deaf@imb.org to find out how you can be involved in sharing
Christ with the Deaf around the world.