The amount of undesignated money flowing through Baptist church offering plates has increased 112 percent in the last 15 years, but the amount of money churches give to missions causes has increased at only half that rate.
An analysis of financial data reported by Southern Baptist Convention churches shows congregations nationwide are sending smaller percentages of their undesignated offerings to the Cooperative Program (CP) unified missions budget. That budget funds state, national and international
missions programs.
Further, designated giving to special missions offerings also has increased at only half the pace of increases in undesignated giving to church causes.
Alabama Baptist churches seem to be following these trends, though not at such a fast decline.
Mickey Crawford, statistical consultant for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM), said that according to numbers from the Annual Church Profiles received by the SBOM, undesignated giving to Alabama’s churches has increased by 102.41 percent, while giving to the CP has increased by 76.64 percent.
However, this is a trend found not only among Baptists, explained Sylvia Ronsvalle, executive vice president of empty tomb, a Champagne, Ill., ministry devoted to increasing awareness of missions funding needs. “These trends are common to the church in the United States,” she said. “Churches seem to be turning inward. They seem to be emphasizing the comfort and happiness of members over the transformation of those members.”
Following are the facts comparing Alabama Baptist churches with Southern Baptist churches as a whole, as reported on the Annual Church Profile and published by the SBC Executive Committee in the convention’s annuals:
Total receipts in SBC churches, combining regular budget gifts and special offerings, grew 120 percent over 15 years, from $4.3 billion to $9.5 billion.
Alabama Baptist churches received more than $330 million more in 2002 than in 1987. Total receipts in 2002 for Alabama churches, including both undesignated and designated gifts, were $621.5 million, 113.62 percent more than 1987’s $290.9 million. Undesignated gifts are monies taken in by the churches not marked by the giver for a certain purpose. Designated gifts are those gifts in which the giver directs where the money is spent.
Of the total money taken in by SBC churches, undesignated receipts grew 112 percent from 1987 to 2002, from $3.2 billion to $6.8 billion.
In Alabama Baptist churches, undesignated receipts grew from $225.8 million in 1987 to $457 million in 2002, a percent change of 102.41. Designated gifts grew 178.17 percent, from $49.8 million in 1987 to $138.6 million in 2002.
Total missions expenditures reported by churches, including CP, special offerings such as the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (LMCO) and local missions, grew 55 percent in the same period, from $663 million to $1 billion. For Alabama Baptists, total money spent on missions amounted to $75.9 million in 2002, a gain of 81.9 percent over 1987’s $41.7 million.
Nationwide, designated giving to the SBC’s special offerings — primarily the LMCO for international missions, Annie Armstrong Easter Offering (AAEO) for North American missions and the world hunger
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