Alabama Baptists and the North American Mission Board (NAMB) are entering a new phase of ministry, said Rick Lance, executive director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM). NAMB no longer focuses on some ministries Alabama Baptists think important, so the partnership, including funding from NAMB, will be limited, he noted.
Reporting to the SBOM meeting Feb. 27 at the Baptist Building in Montgomery, Lance explained that NAMB’s emphasis on church planting inhibits Alabama Baptists from being in full partnership as they have been in the past.
“We are involved in church planting, but to say it is the only way to do missions would be beside the point,” he said. “To say it is a comprehensive way to do missions would not be a healthy, broad view; to say it is equivalent to and the only way to do evangelism is, at best, short-sighted.
“We do have to plant churches, but if we don’t revitalize existing churches, we are going to miss North America,” he added.
Besides NAMB emphasizing primarily church planting, it has not provided a definition for church planting or church planter, Lance said, noting he does not know how NAMB’s plan compares to the model used by Alabama Baptists. In Alabama Baptist life, associations work through local churches to determine new church plants and then bring in the SBOM to assist with the church plant. In the past, the SBOM would bring NAMB to the table if appropriate.
“We work together,” Lance said. “What happens now if NAMB decides to come to Alabama and start a church? Will there be some degree of conflict? Will it be a Southern Baptist church as we know it? Will it contribute through the Cooperative Program (CP)? Will it be in friendly cooperation with the association?
“What happens when our definitions (for church planting) are in conflict?” he asked.
“What about someone who is doing ministry evangelism? Is that individual going to have a relationship with NAMB? My hunch is probably not,” he added. “My concern is that’s missing an element that needs to be a full missions strategy.”
NAMB helped fund ministry evangelism positions in the past, but the funding for these positions, which include church and community ministries, is “sort of fuzzy now,” Lance said.
“Does the North American Mission Board want to have missionaries in Alabama who are not church planters?”
NAMB has not clearly answered these questions for Alabama Baptists and the partnership process does not still include NAMB and SBOM officials sitting down together to develop a template of what they will do together, Lance said.
The cooperative agreement system between NAMB and the state conventions was established in 1958, and they would sit down as equal partners customizing ministries for the states, he said.
“Yes, some needed to be tweaked, but it worked pretty effectively here in Alabama,” he said.
Alabama Baptists provide 52 percent of the funding to NAMB’s 48 percent for personnel and ministries for jointly sponsored projects in Alabama. NAMB is adjusting that formula to 65 percent Alabama Baptists and 35 percent NAMB by 2018.
So the SBOM and associations have been working to decrease the amount of NAMB dollars — a little less than $750,000 — coming in for the 22 church planters and 18 associational and SBOM personnel impacted by this change.
“The real incentive was that we didn’t have the 52 percent to match at times, and we certainly won’t have the 65 percent in the future,” Lance said.
By mutual consent, the SBOM and NAMB have agreed to eliminate $166,000 in NAMB funding for seven SBOM state missionary positions by the end of 2013. Because these positions are critical to reaching Alabama for Christ, the SBOM will assume full responsibility for them moving forward, Lance noted.
The funding of benefits ($177,000) for 11 other ministry positions related to associations across the state will be phased out over the next six years.
These issues, plus the growing confusion and anxiety among Alabama Baptists, led Lance to move ahead to determine exactly how NAMB fits into Alabama Baptists’ future.
“Where do we go from here? How do we continue to be on mission with the Great Commission, working together in Alabama, doing what we need to do and having some type of relationship with NAMB?
“We renew our resolve to reach Alabama for Christ,” he said, noting there are 42 state conventions partnering to reach North America and the world but only one convention focused on reaching Alabama. “We are going to have to become more fervent and serious [about] doing just that.
“We also refocus on effective ministries for the 21st century; balance an emphasis on church planting with one on church revitalization; affirm our convention-approved priorities of evangelism and discipleship, missions mobilization and leadership development; and stop the hemorrhaging in the Cooperative Program.”
At the same time, Lance plans to continue downsizing the SBOM staff “without compromising ministry effectiveness.” There were 119 SBOM staff members when he was elected executive director in 1998. Currently there are 93 staff members.
“We are moving toward 90 employees,” he said. “We’ll try to find a way to make it work. It’s not going to be easy.”
To figure out the long-term plan for Alabama Baptists and NAMB, the Future Focus Task Force named last fall will continue its work. Four state missionaries and six directors of missions are considering all feasible and responsible options for associations to relate to the SBOM, Lance said. From there, the SBOM will determine exactly how NAMB fits into the picture.
The existing Great Commission Task Force will continue working on a funding and ministry strategy for the state convention, and Lance is working with other state executive directors on a study committee dealing with the overall picture of NAMB’s relationship to state conventions.
“My goal with the study committee of the state conventions would be to clarify some things and get the anxiety levels down … to try again … to be partners in the process,” he said. “There are a lot of moving parts.
“(We’re) building a bridge to the future in my own mind,” he said. “What has happened has happened. However, I do think we have to [hit] the reset button if there is going to be a good collegial working relationship (with Alabama Baptists and NAMB) in the future. We can’t make the same mistakes as were made in the past. This is not a defense of the State Board of Missions and not a defense of state conventions or the Alabama State Convention. It is an explanation of the changing landscape as I see it and the challenges before us as I ascertain them.
“This … should not be adversarial,” he said, noting Alabama Baptists give NAMB around $10 million a year through CP gifts and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. “It should be partners with some disagreement seeking to come to a place of agreement.
“We will partner with NAMB where we can, when we can and with whom we can,” he said. “Alabama needs NAMB and NAMB needs Alabama but NAMB needs Alabama more than we need NAMB.”
In other business, the SBOM approved a recommended CP base budget goal of $42 million for 2013. This is $1 million less than the 2012 budget but more than $500,000 more than was received in 2011.
The budget goal would be split 57 percent to the Alabama Baptist State Convention (ABSC) and 43 percent to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), and all monies coming in over the base budget would be split 50–50 between the ABSC and the SBC.
The proposal also includes goals of $400,000 for SBC causes and $300,000 for ABSC causes.
“This budget is … much more realistic, responsible,” Lance said.
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