NASHVILLE — The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Executive Committee (EC) recently continued a discussion about churches’ escrowing or withholding Cooperative Program (CP) funds during its Feb. 20–21 meeting in Nashville.
The EC’s actions came less than a week after it was reported that Dallas-area Prestonwood Baptist Church would escrow CP funds over “various significant positions taken by the leadership of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.” Other churches have taken or are considering similar action over concerns related to multiple SBC entities, according to reports received by the EC.
In light of such reports, the EC’s CP Committee unanimously adopted a motion “that the chairman of the Cooperative Program Committee form a subcommittee … to study and recommend redemptive solutions to the current reality in Southern Baptist life of churches’ either escrowing or discontinuing Cooperative Program funds, with the report being brought back to the September 2017 Executive Committee meeting.”
CP Committee chairman Rolland Slade said the “concern of the committee is anything that’s negatively impacting the Cooperative Program,” Southern Baptists’ unified channel for funding missions and ministries in North America and across the globe.
“We need to know about [such challenges] and be on top of creating redemptive solutions,” he said, noting the ad hoc subcommittee likely would be appointed by Feb. 25.
During a Feb. 21 plenary session, EC member Tony Crisp requested that EC officers “monitor the activities of our various Southern Baptist entities since our last convention … in relation to how those activities might adversely affect” CP. He requested a report to the full EC at its June 12 meeting in Phoenix. (BP)
Share with others: