We highly recommend it to you as a valuable resource of information and inspiration.” That endorsement was written by Alabama Baptist State Convention Executive Director Rick Lance and State Convention President Mike McLemore in a recent letter to state pastors.
The two leaders wrote stressing the important role of our state Baptist paper, The Alabama Baptist. They said regular reading of The Alabama Baptist “will provide much needed information and inspiration, which will make them (members) not only better Baptists but better church members as well.”
Lance and McLemore urged pastors to make sure the state Baptist paper is included in their 2003 church budgets for all active resident families.
The two reminded pastors that The Alabama Baptist continues to be “the primary channel of communication for Alabama Baptists,” adding that the state Baptist paper “will strengthen your church family.”
Those of us privileged to minister through the state Baptist paper are encouraged that such prominent Alabama leaders as the state executive director and the state convention president recognize the contributions of The Alabama Baptist.
Occasionally a church will treat the state Baptist paper as an “extra” in the church budget. The paper is provided if there is money left over after all other things have been funded. Thankfully, leaders like Lance and McLemore know how shortsighted that view is.
Churches provide worship space for people because people need to worship. Churches do not build spaces only for those who regularly attend. Nor do churches buy Bible study material only for those who request it. Because people need to study the Bible, churches make Bible study guides available for all members and more.
In the same way, Alabama Baptists need the state Baptist paper. It provides the information and inspiration that makes cooperative ministries possible.
It has long been proven that Baptists only support with their prayers, their participation and their pocketbooks, those things about which they care. They care about only those things they know about. They know about only those things about which they have information.
Providing that information is the role of the state Baptist paper. Take away a common base of trusted, reliable information and cooperative ministry eventually ends. Scholars say that a common base of reliable information is essential for any volunteer group including the church.
That is why the letter to pastors stressed the role of the state Baptist paper in supporting all that Alabama Baptists do together — what we do together in our state, in the nation and around the world.
For a church to reduce its state paper subscriptions because of a building program or some other financial need is like sowing the seeds of destruction to what Baptists do together. Without that regular, trusted flow of information about what God is doing in and through Baptists at home and around the world, support begins to erode — financial support, pocketbook support and participation support.
As Lance and McLemore wrote, churches should take the initiative to make the state Baptist paper a part of the religious literature provided to members through the church budget. The paper should be something the church wants all its members to have. Only those who decline to receive the paper should not be on a church’s mailing list.
Every elected church leader needs the state Baptist paper. As the letter said, the paper furnishes the information and inspiration essential to effective church leadership. A church should provide its elected leaders with information that helps them understand and promote Baptist work. Otherwise the church is hindering those individuals’ leadership.
Every Baptist family needs its state Baptist paper. It is a resource to empower them to live out their Christian discipleship in their personal lives, their professional lives and in their lives within the church.
The Alabama Baptist is an “inexpensive investment,” as Lance and McLemore wrote. It is not an expense. For only 19 cents a week, the state Baptist paper is delivered into the homes of Baptist families through the church budget plan. That is less than the cost of a postcard.
To help churches with their stewardship, The Alabama Baptist publishes local editions, which include the news of the church printed and mailed to the members of that local congregation. Material submitted by the end of the workday on Monday is back in the homes of church members on Wednesday or Thursday. Again, the cost is reasonable, less than producing a local church newsletter.
There is no better way for an Alabama Baptist church to keep members up-to-date with church information, associational information and state and national news, as well as news from the world of religion than through The Alabama Baptist.
Thank you, Rick Lance and Mike McLemore, for encouraging our churches to provide the state Baptist paper to their resident member families. Like you, we believe that is a wise decision for all our congregations.
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