A running joke among Baptist ministers during two decades of denominational infighting has been, “If the Southern Baptist Convention splits, I’m going with the Annuity Board.” For some, it’s no longer a laughing matter.
The Dallas-based SBC agency has announced that staff members from churches that publicly sever ties with the SBC are no longer eligible to participate in Annuity Board retirement or insurance programs. The board will continue to manage asset accumulations and distributions for past participants, officials said, but will not accept additional contributions or make insurance programs available.
State convention officials have been asked to implement the policy and notify the Annuity Board when a church announces its withdrawal from the SBC.
The Church Annuity Plan is based on contractual agreements between the Annuity Board and the state conventions or multi-state association’s affiliated with the SBC. The plan calls for the state conventions to determine which churches qualify for participation.
As amended and restated in 1995, the plan defines an eligible church as “any Southern Baptist church as determined by the state convention as well as an association of Southern Baptist churches or other Southern Baptist organizations that the state convention determines should be treated as a church for purposes of participation in this plan.”
The same section also states that “an organization shall cease to be a (qualifying) church when the Annuity Board receives notice from the state convention that the organization is no longer a Southern Baptist church.”
Curtis Sharp, executive officer for denominational and public relations services with the Annuity Board, told a gathering of state executive directors and editors that the Annuity Board has no desire to force churches out of its programs. “We want to keep them in,” he said. “The worst thing for us is to erode our asset base – the more assets we have, the lower our fees- but we must maintain the charter.”
Annuitants who are members of non-SBC churches will not be affected, Sharp said, because their benefits are based on past service.
The Annuity Board cannot cease serving a church unless the state convention instructs it to do so, said Sharp, because the Church Annuity Plan is based on a contract between the Annuity Board and the state conventions.
The Annuity Board will not rely solely on the state conventions, however. Sharp said when board officials learn of churches that have voted to withdraw from the SBC, they will contact the churches individually, advise them that the Annuity Board will serve only SBC churches, and encourage them to rethink their decision to sever ties.
(ABP)
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