BMS General Director to stand down in 2017

David Kerrigan, General Director of BMS World Mission since 2009, has announced that he has decided to stand down from the role in the summer of 2017

"Since I started with BMS back in 1983, and allowing for seven years in pastorate here in the UK, I will have enjoyed nearly 29 wonderful years as a mission worker, regional team leader, Director for Mission and General Director, but the time has come to let someone else lead BMS over the coming years," David said in an email sent to UK staff.
 
David’s leadership in defining BMS’ vision for the future has been a key theme of his tenure. The 2010 strategy document For God… laid out his manifesto vision for taking BMS forward in areas including witnessing to world faiths and listening to global voices. The successor document The Highest Goal…, published in 2015, built on those commitments and extended into new areas, defining sharpening BMS’ commitment to the Great Commission and being inspired by prophetic imagination and issues around gender justice. Those aspirations were laid out in detail earlier this year in the 2016-2020 strategy, which also outlined three overarching aims of working in fragile states, among the most marginalised peoples and in the least evangelised communities.
 
David has also taken a lead in developing BMS as a distinct theological voice, challenging people to think courageously about issues that affect life in the western Church as well as globally.
 
He’s keen to stress that he’s not leaving yet though! In the months to come, David will lead the work in pursuit of those aims, and will also take BMS to becoming an incorporated body, which is a very significant development, in making BMS’ core structures fit for purpose in today’s rapidly-developing regulatory framework.
 
Chair of the BMS Board of Trustees, Maureen Russell, has thanked David for his "consistently spiritual and wise leadership" and will now lead the process to identify the next BMS General Director.
 
Please pray for Maureen, the trustees, the staff team and of course David himself as BMS begins that process.
 

This article first appeared on the BMS World Mission website and is used with permission.