VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS—8/9/16)Rev. Dr. Paul Rollet of Chatham, Ill., has been appointed as an associate missionary by American Baptist International Ministries (IM). In association with Mission Ministries, Inc., Rollet is serving in the Philippines with Companion with the Poor (CWTP), a church planting organization and community working to launch holistic churches that meet the spiritual needs of the poorest of the poor living in metro Manila.

Through this ministry, Rollet aims to help strengthen and grow the capacity of CWTP to send missionaries to North and South America and other parts of the world. Rollet’s ministry of training Filipino believers to themselves be missionaries expresses IM’s commitment to mission from everywhere to everyone. His home church is Cherry Hills Baptist Church in Springfield, Illinois.

Rollet’s appointment with IM began in June 2016. “However,” he notes, “I actually served with Companion with the Poor for two years in 2012 and 2013 while working on my doctorate through Bakke Graduate University. After returning to the United States in 2014, I felt called to return to the Philippines and work again with Companion with the Poor. My desire is to see holistic transformation in urban poor communities around the world and to invite more people to join the work.”

Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chan, IM’s area director for Asia, India Hong Kong and China, says, “IM has always had a heart for the underprivileged. Our partner, the Convention of Philippines Baptist Churches (CPBC), shares the same burden to send pastors to establish churches and provide social services in the urban poor communities in metro Manila. Paul’s appointment will connect IM, CPBC and CWTP to multiply our capacity to transform underprivileged communities.”

Rollet and his family have a long history with IM and American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA). He says, “My grandfather, Dr. Paul A. Rollet, was an American Baptist pastor at First Baptist Church in Maywood, Illinois, where he stayed for most of his career. He often took short-term mission trips to visit IM and ABCUSA partners in other countries. My immediate family was highly involved with Judson Baptist Church, an ABCUSA church, in my home town of Chatham, Ill., during my childhood years. We took short-term mission trips with IM to Costa Rica and regularly attended the World Mission Conference in Green Lake, Wis.”

As an associate missionary, Rollet is employed by Mission Ministries, Inc. CWTP is the partner organization in the Philippines with which he works. This type of appointment enables IM to support the mobilization of greater numbers of American Baptists into God’s work throughout the world.

Rollet joins Debbie Mulneix, an IM missionary, and Jonathan and Thelma Nambu, IM associate missionaries, as the fourth IM global servant currently serving in the Philippines.

More information on Paul Rollet is available on his profile page. To send words of encouragement or support, contact him at prollet@internationalministries.org.

American Baptist International Ministries celebrated 200 years of ministry in 2014. American Baptist International Ministries (IM) was organized in 1814 as the first Baptist international mission agency in America. It began its pioneer mission work in Burma, (now called Myanmar) and today serves God through more than 1,800 short- and long-term global servants in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. Its central mission is to help people come to faith in Jesus, grow in their relationships with God and change their worlds through the power of the Spirit. It works with respected partners in over 70 countries in ministries that meet human need.

American Baptist Churches USA is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with over 5,200 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.