Kelvin Mitchell, President

National Baptist Laymen's Ministry Mission Statement

The National Baptist Laymen’s Movement of the National Baptist Convention U.S.A., Inc. was organized at the Forty-third Session of the National Baptist Convention in Los Angeles, California, in 1923. The new President of the Convention, Dr. L.K. Williams presided. The Movement came into existence under the leadership of Deacon John L. Webb, a Christian businessman from Hot springs, Arkansas. John Webb served as the first president of the organization and continued in that position until his death in 1946.

1. To enlist and coordinate the manpower of the local congregation for an effective performance of essential Christian activities.
2. To cultivate the Christian life of laymen through study, worship, fellowship and service.
3. To enlist un-churched men for fellowship in and service through the church and to bring unsaved men into vital relations with God in Christ through personal commitment to Him.
4. To inspire men to support the total program of the Church in the local congregation, the community, the denomination and the world.

Objectives

The objectives of the Laymen’s Movement are suggested by its purposes. They are long and short ranged objectives and should be prioritized and carried out in conformance with each particular Movement’s needs. Each objective is progressive and as each Movement plans activities and programs designed to meet each objective they will find that the fulfillment of the task of service to God will be a lifelong task.

The objectives are as follows: 

1. To provide an organization through which a vital and meaningful fellowship among men of the local congregation may be prompted.
2. To provide an organized medium through which men of the local congregation may serve its purpose most efficiently and become a more vital part of its life.
3. To enlist all the men in active Christian service to the Church through the local congregation.
4. To promote among men a more definite and intelligent understanding of the Christian faith and life and the meaning of the Church.
5. To keep men aware of their duty and obligations as members of the Church through the local congregation
6. To foster in men an intelligent loyalty and devotion to the Church through the local congregation.
7. To cooperate with the pastor, officers and other organizations in developing and stimulating the work of the Church in the local congregation.
8. To promote Church attendance and the study of Christian literature, published and endorsed by our National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc.
9. To inspire men to support the financial program of the Church, both locally and denominationally.
10. To promote boys work in the local congregation.
11. To reach unsaved men with the Gospel and to win them to God in Christ through a personal commitment to Him.
12. To persuade un-churched men to renew their fellowship to the church through the local congregation and to strengthen their faith in its message and program.
13. To foster in Baptist men a vital and active concern in community welfare and betterment and to promote Christian race relations.
14. To inspire men to enter the fields of business, politics and the Foreign Service as a Christian vocation.
15. To promote the establishment of Christian homes and to guide the family toward fuller Christian development and cooperation.
16. To guide men in intelligent, effective Christian social action.