Closer to the Truth Than I Want to Admit

Closer to the Truth Than I Want to Admit

 

The statement was so startling that I knew it could not be true of Alabama Baptists. A survey of 28 Protestant denominations, including Southern Baptists, found that for each dollar donated to a congregation, denominations spent 2 cents on overseas missions in 2003. That was down from 7 cents in the 1920s.

When I set out to disprove that finding, I discovered the statement was closer to the truth than I wanted to admit.

The researchers, a respected organization called “empty tomb” that has monitored Christian giving trends for years, added giving to overseas missions to its study for the first time this year.

“Previously, people have just sort of assumed overseas missions was the priority of congregations and denominations,” said one researcher. “The prayer before the congregational offering will often refer to the importance of giving in order to share the good news throughout the world.”

Like many things with statistics, the final conclusion depends on the way one presents the information. If one figures giving to overseas missions strictly based on Cooperative Program (CP) receipts, then Alabama Baptists, along with Southern Baptists in general, give less than 2 cents per dollar contributed to the church for overseas missions.

If one figures overseas missions giving based on CP and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering gifts, then Alabama Baptists and Southern Baptists give almost double that amount. But even then, that is not much to brag about.

Missions giving through the CP begins with the local church. There Alabama Baptists are ahead of their Christian brothers and sisters in the Southern Bapitst Convention (SBC). On average, Alabama Baptist churches contribute 8.1 cents of each undesignated dollar received by the church to missions causes through the CP. The SBC average is 6.64 cents of each dollar.

Downward trend in giving

While Alabama Baptist churches are above the SBC average, both figures have experienced a downward trend for several years. Both are far from the 10 percent goal held up for churches to contribute toward missions through the CP.

The next step in CP giving is the state convention. Again Alabama is far above average. No state convention that figures its contributions to missions causes through the SBC on all undesignated receipts gives a higher percentage than Alabama Baptists — 42.3 percent. Very few conventions show a higher percentage but only after funding some “preferred items” before doing a percentage allocation.

On a dollar basis, only one state convention contributes more dollars to missions causes through the CP than Alabama and that state has a larger population than Alabama and more Baptists than our state.

Some state conventions nearly twice the numeric size of Alabama give about half as much through the CP as Alabama.

Giving through the SBC

The third step in CP giving is the SBC. For decades, the SBC has marked 50 cents of every dollar contributed for overseas missions through the International Mission Board (IMB).

The percentages sound good, but when you ­apply them, the final result is humbling. Alabama Baptist churches received $507,613,129 in undesignated receipts in 2004. The churches contributed $41,140,216 to missions causes through the CP that year. Of that amount, $17,402,311 was forwarded to the SBC and, of that amount, the IMB received $8,701,156.

Again the numbers are impressive, but they equal only 1.7 cents of each undesignated dollar received by Alabama Baptist churches. That is less than the 2 cent national average reported by empty tomb.

When Lottie Moon gifts are added, the picture changes drastically. In 2004, Alabama Baptists gave $10,944,510 designated for overseas missions through this annual offering. That is $2.2 million more than giving to overseas missions through the CP. What is true of Alabama is true of most state conventions. That is why the Lottie Moon offering is now the largest single source of income for the IMB.

When Lottie Moon giving is added to CP giving, Alabama Baptist churches gave 3.4 cents of each dollar for overseas missions. That is better, but not good.

Another factor impacting support of overseas missions is the amount of money churches spend on missions trips abroad. In the 1920s, these were unheard of. Now they are common place. It is not unusual for some churches to sponsor multiple overseas missions trips annually. Figuring these numbers into denominational support for overseas missions is almost impossible.

But no amount of rationalization can take away the stark reality that overseas missions is receiving a declining amount of support through traditional funding channels.

The SBC has held its percentage allocation constant. So has the Alabama Baptist State Convention. The slippage is in local churches. A declining percentage is being given by churches to missions causes — state missions, national missions and overseas missions ­— through the CP.

‘A sense of larger purposes’

In 2004, Alabama Baptist churches reported an increase in undesignated giving of about $29 million — about a 6 percent increase. That same year, CP receipts grew about 3 percent. Had Alabama Baptist churches given through the CP in 2004 using the same percentage they did 25 years ago (10 percent), it would have meant more than $10 million extra for missions causes.

One other finding was reported by empty tomb. Fourteen of the denominations studied reported membership growth. These 14 all gave about 3 cents on the dollar to overseas missions. The other 14, which gave less than 1 cent on the dollar, reported membership losses.

“Perhaps the key is that a sense of larger purposes, consistent with professed beliefs, is attractive to people,” one researcher said.

Perhaps so. And perhaps all of us in local churches need to take a second look at our giving to missions through the CP as budgets for 2006 are prepared. Our vision of the Lord’s Kingdom must be larger than our local congregation.