For a moment, can we assume the Alabama Baptist State Convention will make its Cooperative Program (CP) budget goal for 2011, as well as the goals for approved special offerings?
Given the economy, that is a large assumption. Projections indicate CP receipts may fall short of the 2010 budget by about 5 percent. The 2011 budget to be presented to messengers attending the Nov. 16–17 annual meeting at Hunter Street Baptist Church, Hoover, has been reduced by $3 million so ministry leaders can make realistic plans about potential financial resources.
Still let’s assume Alabama Baptists will make their goals. If that happens, then they will give $64,175,000 for causes in the state, nation and world.
The single largest beneficiary of those funds will be the International Mission Board (IMB), which will receive almost $21 million from Alabama Baptist churches. That is almost one-third of the total gifts. Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) causes (including the IMB) will receive almost 60 percent of the total — $37,889,764.
Alabama Baptists will use about 40 percent for work in the state. The State Board of Missions will be credited with just 19 percent of the total — $12,434,565. The state’s three Baptist colleges will share $8.5 million, or 13.3 percent. The Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries will claim almost $2.85 million, or 4.4 percent.
Again this assumes Alabama Baptists reach all their offering goals — the CP and special offerings. The Children’s Homes, for example, will get about 90 percent of its funding from the special offering collected by the churches.
Both the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions and the Annie Armstrong Offering for North American Missions predate the CP. So does the offering for the Children’s Homes. When Southern Baptists initiated the CP in 1925, these special offerings were maintained. Everyone understood that most Southern Baptists would continue making designated offerings for causes close to their hearts such as world evangelism or home missions.
In fact, records show that funds received through special offerings were to be counted as part of the hoped for 50–50 percentage division between state and SBC causes when the CP first began.
The CP was never intended to be the sole way Southern Baptists supported missions causes. It was to be the primary way, however. In one offering, Southern Baptists were supposed to be able to financially undergird all the ministries they deemed important. Not individual Southern Baptist preferences but the will of the majority. In the annual meeting, Baptists of a state adopt a budget to support the work of that state. Similarly messengers to the SBC’s annual meeting adopt a budget for its work.
In Alabama, for example, Baptists determined they wanted to make scholarships available to students preparing for church-related vocations at Baptist colleges. Alabama Baptists decided it was important to have a voice at the state Legislature speaking on behalf of biblical viewpoints about gambling, alcohol and a host of other moral issues. That is why ALCAP (Alabama Citizens Action Program) is in the state convention budget.
Not every Baptist ministry has the same emotional appeal. But emotional appeal does not always equate with value. Through the CP, those things that Baptists deemed necessary could be funded. All the ministries would work together rather than compete with one another as they had done since the SBC’s founding.
Since initiating the CP, Southern Baptists have functioned with two giving patterns — the CP and special offerings. Through the years, changes have been made. For example, Southern Baptists recognized that some ministries sponsored by state conventions directly benefit both the state and national conventions.
This recognition brought about what is frequently referred to as “joint denominational causes.” The SBC said money spent by a state convention for CP and stewardship promotion, for example, directly benefited both the state convention and the SBC. That money should be considered a joint denominational cause and the amount equally divided as benefiting both bodies. Money contributed to protection benefits for ministers was placed in this category since ministers frequently serve in more than one state during their ministerial career.
Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU), the heart of missions support in most Southern Baptist churches, was also listed as a joint denominational cause as were state Baptist papers.
Alabama Baptists do not use the joint denominational causes form of budgeting. All the funds spent promoting the CP and stewardship, all the funds invested in protection benefits for ministers and all the funds for WMU and the state Baptist paper are counted as state expenses. That is slightly more than $2.1 million. And still Alabama Baptists have one of the highest percentages of CP receipts used to support SBC causes. The 2011 budget earmarks 42.5 percent of each dollar for the SBC and 57.5 percent for Alabama Baptist use.
If the 2011 state convention budget were constructed to reflect what the SBC has already approved and what some other state conventions are doing in budget preparation, then the percentage of CP receipts used for SBC causes would rise to 45 percent. On top of that, add the special offerings and the SBC receives almost 60 percent of every dollar Alabama Baptist churches give for work beyond the local church.
These words are not advocating changing the way the state convention prepares its budget. Rather they are intended to clarify the way CP funds are used to support missions and ministries in Alabama, the nation and the world. Sometimes one hears comments that seem to imply that Baptists have to choose between important ministries: international missions vs. Baptist colleges, missions education vs. church planting, strengthening Christian families vs. leadership training, etc. That is false.
The CP was initiated to allow Southern Baptists “both/and,” not “either/or.” Baptist ministries and missions work together. Each supports the other and all are supported through one offering — the primary channel of missions support.
On the strong foundation made possible by the CP, Southern Baptists give their special offerings. Both the CP and special offerings play a part. They have since 1925. Both are necessary. That is why it is important to recognize and celebrate the total picture of Southern Baptist giving.
Share with others: