The Evangelical Baptist Mission (EBM), a not-for-profit ministry (NOT connected with the Southern Baptist Convention) that supported Baptist missionaries around the globe, announced the organization’s dissolution at the end of August amid lawsuits and financial issues.

In a letter to missionaries, churches, and other EBM affiliates, Board Chair Don Whipple writes, “It is with a heavy heart and much prayerful consideration that I, on behalf of the EBM Board of Directors, write this letter. Following extensive objective assessment and the advice of legal counsel, we are beginning action to dissolve EBM.”

The organization was to be dismantled over a period of a week and a half, and the group’s main office in Indiana will close on Friday, Sept. 2.

The letter includes a list of missions agencies for church affiliates and missionaries to contact to make sure that donations, which formerly went through the EBM website, will be properly diverted to the missionaries who need them.

Prior to the decision to dissolve, many questions were raised about the financially drained organization when they filed a lawsuit against another organization, The Beracha Foundation, which served as EBM’s technical support for several years.

Beracha is an Ohio-based, non-profit agency that provides technical support to churches and other organizations around the globe.

The Indianapolis Business Journal reports that in January of this year, EBM filed a lawsuit against Beracha accusing the IT support group of putting its missionaries at risk by cutting off the function of a website portal that allowed EBM to communicate with its missionaries. They were also accused of shutting down the site’s donation and accounting capabilities.

Read More