For more than 100 years, one longstanding society of pastors in Alabama has sent money instead of flowers to the families of deceased ministers and their wives.
It isn’t an insurance policy — it’s a “giving ministry” designed to help families pay for funeral expenses, said Mike McLemore, executive director/treasurer of the Alabama Baptist Ministers Benefit Society.
And as of Aug. 11, the society has broadened its reach to include any Southern Baptist worldwide who qualifies for membership, he said.
“We discovered that as far as we know no other state convention is offering this kind of benefit program for Southern Baptists in ministry,” McLemore said.
The society, founded in 1904, was designed in early years to help rural and bivocational pastors with a gift of love from their fellow pastors. The society would collect $1 per member and then send the total amount collected to the family of the deceased to help offset funeral expenses.
Who is eligible?
Today the ministry has been expanded to include all of those who are called to Christian ministry. This would include pastors and their spouses, church staff members and their spouses, church support staff, denominational employees and custodians who work for ministries.
The payout amount is determined by the number of members in the society at the time of the death of a loved one. For instance the current membership is at 1,300, so a check in the amount of $1,300 would be sent to the family of the deceased.
When there are multiple deaths, a notice is sent out to the members letting them know who has passed away. Each member will then send back a $1 donation for each family.
“The ministry is kept simple in the way it operates, so … the money collected goes directly to the families,” McLemore said.
“It truly is a way for all of us to honor the ministries of those fellow Christians who have served faithfully in carrying the gospel light to a very dark world.”
For more information, visit alabamabaptistbenefits.org. The society also will have a booth at the Alabama Baptist Pastors Conference and Alabama Baptist State Convention annual meeting Nov. 14–16 at Eastmont Baptist Church, Montgomery. (TAB)
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