By Editor Bob Terry
Observers used to judge a state Baptist convention’s health by the attendance at the annual meeting. Officially the annual meeting was to deal with business items like budgets and reports. Unofficially messengers had opportunity to learn about new ministry resources, to network with co-workers from across the state, to visit with friends not seen since the last annual meeting, to be inspired and encouraged in their ministry.
Oftentimes it was the unofficial benefits rather than the official duties that drew church leaders from across Alabama to descend on the convention city for several days of meetings.
A healthy convention was characterized by a large attendance, by interest in the reports and business items, by times of fellowship among the messengers, by friendly hallway conversations, by making new friends, by a spirit of cooperation and inclusion among participants. The annual meeting was an eagerly anticipated event. It was almost like a child going to the circus.
That day is gone. Yes, the annual meeting is still the time that messengers deal with the business of the convention. But the unofficial benefits are frequently met through Internet chat rooms, e-mails, picture-phone conversations, mass mailings, teleconferences, more meetings than one can attend and an array of other possibilities.
Increasingly messengers assemble primarily to transact the business of the state convention, and even that is losing its appeal.
This year in North Carolina, messengers to that annual meeting made decisions that revamped the convention’s relationships with its colleges, its retirement centers and its Woman’s Missionary Union. Yet attendance was the lowest it has in more than 20 years.
In Tennessee, a group calling itself Concerned Tennessee Baptists announced before the annual meeting that it would challenge the report of the convention’s committee on boards. Also on the agenda was a report concerning the convention’s relationship to Belmont University. Yet attendance was only slightly more than 2006 when no controversial items were on the agenda.
In Alabama, 806 messengers registered for this year’s annual meeting held at Cottage Hill Baptist Church, Mobile. That is the lowest attendance at an Alabama Baptist annual meeting since 1945, when 630 messengers registered. It is the first time registration has dipped below 1,000 since 1946, when 870 persons registered. Some explained the low attendance by pointing out that no controversial business items were expected and that the three major officers were all eligible for re-election.
That may have had an impact. The annual meeting had no items of miscellaneous business introduced. All the resolutions presented by the Resolutions Committee were adopted without debate. The officers were all elected without opposition. But as the experiences of North Carolina and Tennessee Baptists demonstrate, not even controversy will guarantee a large turnout of Baptists anymore.
Instead of evaluating the health of a state convention based on attendance at the annual meeting, one must now look to see if the convention has been able to capture the imagination and commitment of its churches. That is the new indicator of a healthy convention. Perhaps it has always been the true indicator of a healthy convention.
From a financial perspective, Alabama Baptists have a healthy convention. Through October, almost 2,700 of the 3,242 cooperating Baptist churches had financially contributed to the work of the Alabama Baptist State Convention (ABSC). That number will increase by the end of the year.
From a dollar standpoint, by the end of November, receipts will have surpassed the 2006 Cooperative Program (CP) budget goal. By the end of December, it is likely the 2007 goal will have been surpassed. On a percentage basis, Alabama Baptist churches give more than 1.2 percent more of their undesignated receipts to missions through the CP than do all Southern Baptist Convention churches, on average.
The State Board of Missions facilitated more than 500 missions volunteers participating in partnership missions projects in Guatemala, Ukraine and Michigan this year. It also coordinated relief efforts in New Orleans by more than 45 churches and 20 associations, all working together in an area Alabama Baptists have pledged to help rebuild.
Alabama Baptists were singled out earlier this year by the North American Mission Board with an award for the second-highest numerical increase in baptisms over the previous year. In part, this was the result of the state convention’s emphasis on Intentional Evangelism for the past three years.
Relationships between the state’s three Baptist colleges and the state convention have never been stronger. Not only do the three institutions work with each other but also all three cooperate with the state convention. The fact that more than one out of every four CP dollars received by the state convention is channeled into Christian higher education attests to the positive nature of this relationship.
Participation at the state Baptist conference center — Shocco Springs — is strong, with more than 54,000 users in the past 12 months. The state Baptist paper is the only one with more than 100,000 paid circulation. Ministry reports of the Children’s Homes & Family Ministries and the Retirement Centers both show growing ministries. The indicators go on and on.
Obviously Alabama Baptists are doing something right. Leadership on boards, commissions and committees comes from across Alabama geographically and in other ways. The elected leadership is trusted. Alabama Baptists believe in and practice leading from the center of convention life, not from an extreme.
Churches believe in, cooperate with and support the ABSC. That is why Alabama Baptists have one of the healthiest state conventions around, even if we do have a low attendance at our annual meetings.
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