NASHVILLE — Contributions to Southern Baptist national and international missions and ministries received by the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Executive Committee in October were 6.72 percent below the same month last year, according to a news release from SBC Executive Committee President Frank Page. The total includes receipts from state conventions and fellowships, churches and individuals for distribution according to the 2012–13 SBC Cooperative Program (CP) Allocation Budget.
As of Oct. 31, gifts received by the Executive Committee for distribution through the CP totaled $13,602,300.64, or $979,228.28 below the $14,581,528.92 received in October 2011.
“This shortfall in the opening month of the fiscal year follows a historical pattern when both August and October are four-
Sunday months,” Page said. State conventions typically receive their August church contributions in early September and forward their September gifts to the SBC in early October.
“This is the fifth time in the past nine years that the opening month of the new fiscal year followed this pattern,” Page said. “When we compare these October-to-October giving patterns from other four-Sunday years, the decline averaged 8.8 percent, so this is a slight improvement. Thankfully, in each instance we have also seen a significant rebound through the first quarter of the fiscal year. We anticipate we will see the same thing this year.”
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