The Organization
The Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE) in Harrisburg, PA is a global family of ministries that exists to fulfill the Great Commission by multiplying leaders, churches, and mission movements among every people. The organization began in 1927 with a deep burden and commitment for sharing the Gospel.
Almost 100 years later, this $71m nonprofit mission organization continues in that commitment; working in close partnership with over 400 partner churches and thousands of supporting congregations to send and support over 1,000 missionaries serving in 91 countries throughout the world. The organizational headquarters is in the Harrisburg, PA metro and houses 65 of their 70 total employees.
The Opportunity
ABWE seeks a new Director of Advancement and Strategic Partnerships to advance the strategic direction of the organization and build an advancement team that stewards resources well. The Director of Advancement will build a comprehensive development strategy; utilizing the data to segment and target specific donor groups from the 36,000 existing donors regularly giving to ABWE. The Director will work closely with other departments (President’s office, Communications, and Mobilization teams), to build trust and strengthen relationships with key stakeholders and will also be responsible to lead and shepherd the advancement team. The best candidates for this role will possess a proven track record of advancement leadership and be willing to relocate to the Harrisburg, PA area.
THEIR STORY
In 1927, ABWE’s founder Dr. Raphael Thomas, was serving as a medical doctor in the Philippines with a different organization. While serving there, he engaged in significant evangelism and discipleship, and his sending organization requested that he focus exclusively on medical work instead. He boldly refused and resigned after 23 years of faithful missionary service and began planning something new. After returning to the US he gathered with a group of colleagues to shape the Association of Baptists for the Evangelism of the Orient (ABEO). The organization grew in its church planting efforts in the Philippines and spread throughout Asia, before expanding to Peru in 1939, and changed the name to Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE).
After nearly 100 years, the organization has grown to a worldwide movement. As a family of ministries, ABWE has continued with its sharp focus on sharing the Gospel, utilizing every platform and skillset possible to play a role in church planting. This has included medical, aviation, diaspora, leadership development, and more.
The ABWE Distinctive
ABWE maintains its deep-rooted commitment to its baptistic doctrinal distinctives and the priority of sharing the Gospel and planting churches. This approach affirms the power of the Gospel to transform not only individual lives, but also communities, and nations. While missionary workers may engage in a wide variety of different types of work – they are all unified by their top priority of Gospel proclamation. God has honored their efforts, as in the last 5 years, the organization has celebrated over 1,000 professions of faith and approximately 750 baptisms each year!
The heartbeat of ABWE is to multiply leaders, churches, and mission movements among every people. This multiplication emphasis means that the discipleship journey is only complete once it replicates. As such, ABWE seeks to make replicating disciples in and through local churches worldwide.
WHAT THEY DO
ABWE GO:
Sending missionaries is the core emphasis of ABWE. Missionary workers come from the US and are sent to various fields throughout the world to spread the hope of the Gospel, with an intentional emphasis on unreached populations. ABWE helps missionaries go and churches send, to serve in international contexts committed to evangelism, discipleship, church planting, and national leadership development.
This sending process happens in close collaboration with sending churches, and involves identifying, training, sending, and sustaining long term missionary workers. These missionary workers engage a wide variety of professional skillsets in order to make disciples and plant reproducing churches.
Live Global:
ABWE features the Live Global branch focused on connecting US churches with indigenous, nationally-led ministries and churches throughout the globe, to multiply Gospel impact in these communities. US churches receive coaching from the ABWE Live Global team, and are directly connected with indigenous churches for tangible, meaningful engagement. This initiative is currently the fastest growing emphasis at ABWE.
EveryEthne:
Finally, ABWE has the EveryEthne branch , which seeks to come alongside the church in North America, helping it engage their community on mission – resourcing and equipping local churches to plant new churches, minister to different local ethnic groups, and cross cultures without crossing borders.
POSITION DESCRIPTION
TITLE: Director of Advancement and Strategic Partnerships
REPORTS TO: Executive Vice President
WORKS CLOSELY WITH: ABWE President
STATUS: Full-time, On site
TRAVEL: Extensive travel both within the US and internationally to meet with donors (often in collaboration with the President and/or other key leaders at ABWE). Director of Advancement will be responsible to build his/her own travel schedule and identify travel priorities.
POSITION SUMMARY
The Advancement Director of ABWE will provide strategic and operational leadership to build and execute a wholistic fundraising plan for the organization to facilitate ministry growth and advance the long-term financial sustainability of the organization. This key leader will develop a strategic plan, develop trust with both internal and external constituents, and galvanize broad support and alignment with the strategy. The Director will serve as the primary champion for the Global Gospel Fund, which seeks to fully cover the operational cost of the organization.
The Director of Advancement will report to the Executive Vice President, and will work broadly across departmental lines, including close partnership with the President, to further ABWE’s vision and mission.
KEY RESPONSIBILITES
Strategy formation:
Synthesize the extensive organizational data (36,000 recurring donors) to segment into different donor groups.
Build a targeted, organization-wide fundraising strategy, with tailored on-ramps of involvement for each donor segment.
Maintain and utilize CRM/database tools to document contacts, analyze trends, and build reports/dashboards for organizational reporting.
Leadership & influence:
Catalyze broad ownership of the fundraising plan across the leadership community of the organization, honoring historical DNA but charting a new course of growth.
Provide leadership and shepherding for the current development staff (2) and develop a plan for future team expansion.
Work in close collaboration with the Communications, Mobilization, and Presidents’ offices in the organization to bring unity and clarity around advancement messaging among internal and external constituents.
Relationship management:
Identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward major donors, churches, and organizational partners.
Establish, manage, & strengthen high-trust relationships with pastors, churches, and key donor constituents.
Shepherd potential and active major donors on short term vision trips internationally, to gain a deeper understanding of ABWE’s work happening abroad.
REQUIREMENTS
Demonstrated success and experience (4+ minimum) in fundraising, advancement, partnerships, campaign marketing, sales, or financial services.
Bachelor’s degree in business, communications, finance, or related field required. A relevant master’s degree is welcomed but not required.
Character:
Successful candidate will be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and be able to articulate a personal testimony of salvation, and will be able to sign ABWE’s Statement of Faith and Christian Code of Conduct.
Competencies:
Proven ability in organizational development/fundraising, with a track record of growth.
History of success in comprehensive strategic planning and data analysis.
Demonstrated ability to lead and rally remote team members around a vision; a “galvanizer.”
Chemistry with the Culture:
A demonstrated commitment to advancing the Gospel, emphasizing personal salvation and discipleship.
Commitment to healthy teams, working through any organizational conflict from a Biblical perspective, honoring one another.
Personal drive and willingness to walk with humility and boldness, working tirelessly to accomplish a vision greater than just the organization.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
Competitive compensation package, commensurate with experience and industry benchmarks, will be discussed in a personal interview.
Comprehensive benefits package, including health coverage and retirement match (up to 7% of base pay).
OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES
Opportunities:
ABWE has a strong historical commitment to doctrinal steadfastness and its baptistic roots, which have resulted in transfer growth into the organization in recent years, as other organizations have softened their theological distinctives. This individual will join a “winning team” growing at 12% year on year. While ABWE has a mature history of nearly 100 years of sending missionaries, they have demonstrated a willingness to innovate in recent years with the development of Live Global and EveryEthne.
While the vast majority of donors to the organization have given by supporting individual missionaries, ABWE has managed to demonstrate that donors who are invited to invest in the organization as a whole also tend to increase missionary support as well. This has built significant buy-in from the missionary constituency at ABWE for organizational development.
The next Director of Advancement will join a team that has expanded the “Global Gospel Fund” from $100k to $1.8m over the last 7.5 years. The momentum is palpable, but the potential is even greater. With the donor database still largely unexplored, the new Advancement Director will have an excellent foundation from which to build and as well as a unique opportunity to scale the Global Gospel Fund significantly.
Challenges:
While the organization has managed to grow the Global Gospel Fund in recent years, it has been marked by isolated, relational approaches, not a coordinated, strategic data-driven effort. The next Advancement Director will need to prioritize the formation of an intentional advancement strategic plan, incorporating major donor strategies and planned giving strategies.
The next Director of Advancement will need to strengthen partnerships globally and engage the donor community around the country while based in a relatively small market of Harrisburg, PA. They will need to establish and augment networks of existing relationships while working out of headquarters in addition to developing a data-based strategy of engagement while maintaining support from individuals giving to missionaries they know personally.
ABOUT THE HARRISBURG, PA AREA
The capital of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, benefits from its central location in the state. Families enjoy frequent trips to nearby Hershey (amusement parks, concerts, chocolate—always a win), Lancaster County’s farms and markets, Gettysburg’s history, and weekend getaways to Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Washington, DC—all within about two hours. Locally, Riverfront Park, City Island, minor-league baseball, museums, and seasonal festivals give the city a “small-but-lively” feel that’s especially appealing to families with school-age children.
Harrisburg boasts many enjoyable neighborhoods in and around the downtown area—Camp Hill, Mechanicsburg, Hershey, and parts of West Shore—known for strong public schools, safe streets, and a genuine sense of community. Sitting on the edge of the Susquehanna River, New Cumberland is a suburban borough on the southern end of Harrisburg. Parks, diverse neighborhoods, and a walkable downtown all make New Cumberland a desirable, small town riverfront location. With quality schools, and an affordable median home range from $270–290,000, New Cumberland is an ideal location for families. Just 15 minutes to the city of Harrisburg, employees with ABWE have options of a variety of suburbs to choose from in the convenient area.
NEXT STEPS
If, after prayerfully reviewing this information, you believe this role fits you well, or if you know someone you would like to recommend, please contact:
Josiah “JJ” Harling
Search Consultant
mobile:: (719) 235-8580
email :: josiah@missionleadership.org
Dr. Rich Kidd
Managing Partner
mobile :: (757) 642–0622
email :: rich@missionleadership.org