SBC Cooperative Program Proposal

An ethics daily artilce out today says that the executive board of the SBC is concerned enough about giving that they are making recommendations to the SBC that leadership requires a minimum contribution to the convention. I think that this is a necessary and good step - interesting to me that Perstonworld in my neck of the woods gave only 95K to the cooperative program - but of course Jack Grahm has a huge building to pay for.

Exerpts from the article follow, you can read the full article at

http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=7001

Another recommendation encourages the election of state and national convention officers whose churches give a minimum of 10 percent of undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program state and global missions.

At one time, elected SBC leaders strongly modeled support of denominational programs. In the two decades before 1977, the church where the sitting SBC president was pastor gave more than 12 percent through the Cooperative Program unified budget.

In the decade following 1979, as the focus in SBC presidential elections shifted to baptisms and biblical inerrancy, the average CP-giving percentage of the president's church dropped to 3.4 percent.

During the years of the "conservative resurgence," fundamentalist leaders now admit, support for the Cooperative Program was taken for granted.

The church of the current SBC president, Bobby Welch, has given at least 15 percent through the Cooperative Program for the last 30 years. Other past fundamentalist presidents, like Jimmy Draper, Morris Chapman and Jim Henry, also represented churches with records of strong Cooperative Program support.

Others, however, led churches only marginally supportive of SBC missions.

Jerry Vines, recently retired pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., who served as SBC president in 1988-89, once referred to himself as the "first independent Baptist to be elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention."

Yet the 2.3 percent of undesignated receipts that Vines' church gave to the Cooperative Program even surpassed percentages attributed to churches of other SBC leaders.

Bailey Smith's First Southern Baptist Church in Del City, Okla., gave 1.19 percent at the time of his term in 1980-81.

Jack Graham, the SBC president in 2003-04, led Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, to contribute $95,000 one year to the Cooperative Programs of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, less than half a percent of a budget totaling $17.1 million.

Charles Stanley's First Baptist Church of Atlanta was giving about 2.5 percent of undesignated gifts to the CP when he served as president in 1984-85.

Second Baptist Church in Houston took in $21 million one year during pastor Ed Young's term as SBC president in 1993-94, while sending $105,000 to the Cooperative Program.

James Merritt, SBC president in 2001-02, led a church that gave between 2 percent and 3 percent to the CP.

Adrian Rogers' (SBC president in 1979 and 1986-87) Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn., gave less than 4 percent.

 

Rand

I'm not a huge fan of ethics daily myself - but since you cant get much straight scoop from BP you have to go to both and figure the answer is somewhere in the middle!

I agree with you on those who are in leadership should lead thier own churches to give at least 10%. Seems the SBC has been following the lead of some of these guys however!