By Editor Bob Terry
Alabama Baptists are the largest religious group in the state. Sometimes that is said boastfully as if Baptists make up some kind of power bloc. Other times it is said almost apologetically as if we may be many but we are not much.
Statistics provided by the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM) indicates Alabama Baptists number just under 1 million — 966,062. Resident membership is somewhat smaller — 683,989.
Those figures are down in recent years but still constitute a sizable group. One out of every 7 people in the state is a member of an Alabama Baptist church and lives in the area where that person is a member.
On any given Sunday morning the 3,208 cooperating churches will have 311,840 people gathered for worship. That means the average church, if there were such a thing as an “average” church, would have 213 members and a worship attendance of 97.
Not a reliable picture
However, averages don’t mean much because they do not provide a reliable picture of reality.
Alabama Baptists count some large, strong churches among their members. In fact the top 300 churches in resident membership account for 51 percent of the total. These same churches account for 47 percent of total worship attendance.
If one divides the remaining number of resident members by the remaining churches, the average would be 114 resident members and 57 in average attendance. Still those numbers are high for a large number of churches. Recently I was in one association where about 60 percent of the churches reported membership and attendance below these numbers.
When giving is considered the 300 largest giving churches contribute about 67 percent of Alabama’s total Cooperative Program (CP) receipts. That means the other 2,908 churches contribute about one-third of the CP total.
Unfortunately these numbers don’t tell the whole story either. SBOM statistics indicate 737 churches reported no CP giving for the last year of record. That is 23 percent of the total number of cooperating churches. It is hard to understand how a church that does not cooperate in funding the missions and ministries agreed upon by messengers to the annual state convention meeting can be considered a cooperating church in good standing.
No church has to “buy” its way into membership with Alabama Baptists by giving a set percentage of undesignated income or a fixed dollar amount. Still it seems a church claiming to be a member in good standing with the state and national conventions would give something to underwrite what Baptists have decided to do together.
The beauty of the Cooperative Program is that every gift is important. All are pooled together so everyone who contributes has a part in the missions and ministry done in our state and around the world in Jesus’ name.
Interestingly the 300 largest churches in membership are not necessarily the 300 largest churches in giving. In fact the resident membership of the 300 top churches in giving is about 68,000 fewer than the largest membership churches.
Decisions about CP giving are faced by every congregation regardless of size.
Large membership churches have issues not faced by medium and small membership congregations. They are the prime targets for special projects within and without the denomination.
Increasingly larger membership churches are sought to underwrite special missions projects. These projects are supposed to be above what the church gives through the CP. In some cases, however, these projects have cut into CP giving.
Parachurch representatives seem to line up at the door of large church pastors seeking funding for worthy projects.
The biblical adage “to whom much is given, much is required” causes pastors to try and support as many causes as possible.
Churches of every size face another common issue — the pressure to abandon CP giving and support a particular cause or ministry. Increasingly people want to see tangible results of their giving. Simply contributing to a general fund that benefits all has little heart appeal.
Every church must do what it deems right under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, and the decision of each one is respected. It also is true that the principles undergirding cooperation of all that Baptists do together are weakened when churches decide to support only particular causes and ignore other important ministries.
One must always be concerned about the health of the whole body. Isn’t that what the Bible teaches? It is a perilous time when part of the body is strong and muscular while another part of the body is weak and fragile.
In my seminary days I was taught there are two important parts to the Cooperative Program. The first part is “cooperative.” That is the way Southern Baptists have chosen to do their work. Cooperation is the key to work in the local church and the association as well as the state and national conventions. By cooperating together we can do more than any church can do alone.
The second part is “program.” Baptists are engaged in Kingdom business around the world. Program describes what Baptists do together. It is our missions and ministries. Program is determined in church business meetings and associational meetings as well as annual state and national conventions.
Program is determined cooperatively by all who chose to participate in the process. In Baptist life program cannot be superimposed on an unwilling body. That is the genius of working together cooperatively.
Determined to serve
The Alabama Baptist State Convention — which includes SBOM and all of its entities and auxiliaries — exemplifies the Cooperative Program. Resources are offered to the church running 15 in worship as well as churches running 1,500. The state convention does not look at CP giving before deciding to serve a church. As long as the church is in good standing with the state convention that church is entitled to the resources available.
Alabama may be a diverse state with churches great and small but Alabama Baptists through their associations and state convention are determined to serve them all. That service is made possible because of the Cooperative Program.
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