I have written on this blog before on our church’s relationship to the Southern Baptist Convention, why we believe it is a valuable network/denomination, why we are a committed part of it and plan to be so for many years to come. If it’s of any interest to you, I did not grow up Southern Baptist, and thus I have no nostalgic loyalty to it. I am in the SBC by choice and conviction. I believe strategic partnership and networking is key for the progress of the Great Commission.
In recent years, the rubbing point for many younger pastors has been how much to give to the “Cooperative Program” (CP), the joint “”pot” of SBC churches. The CP finances the Southern Baptist seminaries, the North American Mission Board, the International Mission Board, and other Southern Baptist mission efforts. The CP has enabled the SBC to do unparalleled things–for example, Southern Baptists have put more missionaries on the field (5000+, currently) and provided a more affordable, higher quality theological education than any other denomination. That’s what happens when 42,000+ churches contribute to a collective pot.
The problem (famously now) is that so much of what is given to the CP stays right here in the states, particularly in those states where there are already a great number of churches. The Baptist State Convention of NC keeps something like 65 cents of every dollar given to the CP. That means of every dollar given, only 35 cents makes it out of the state! From there it is further divided between seminaries and national agencies. A disturbingly small fraction makes it to the actual “mission field.” Can it really be considered a wise investment of the money that God, and our church, has entrusted to us to get to the field?
A couple of thoughts.
First,I don’t mind paying for some “bureaucracy.” “Bureaucracy” is just a fancy word for “organization,” and organization is necessary for effective cooperative networks. So, I have no problem paying for an organizing, administrating group.
Second, I want to be a team player. I really like the current leadership of our SBC, both on the national and state levels. The leaders of the IMB, NAMB, our seminaries and our state have an aggressive, and in my view, properly prioritized view of mission. They are about as good as you could ask for. And most really want to turn the system around so that more money gets to the field.
It’s just that the institutions are so big, and have suffered from mission drift for so long, that even with the right leaders now in place, it will be a long journey to get our dollar allocations back to the right levels. It’s not fair to say to an organization, “Hey, re-organize 70% of your budget and give most of it away!” and expect that they can do that overnight. For example, Milton Holifield, the executive director of our state convention, is a very mission-minded man, and committed to increasing the amount they get to the field by half a percent a year–which, when you think about it, is quite significant. In order to do that, they’ve had to make some painful cutbacks. And for that I am very grateful. I want to support their efforts, and believe they are headed in the right direction.
So I feel caught in a dilemma: I believe in the SBC and I want to support it, particularly the good work I see happening in it. But I also have to be a wise steward of the money entrusted by our church to me for the sake of missions. There are a lot of good things the NC Baptist State Convention is doing, but there are also a lot of churches already here in NC. We (the local churches) can and should be leading in mission efforts in our own state. It’s not that there is no role for a state convention in that–there are certainly some things we could use a central office to help us with–but we want to see most of our money, all but a fraction, going to places where there is no church.
So what then do we do? Here’s where we, the Summit Church, currently are: We plan to increase our giving to the CP in the years to come, especially as we see the Convention going in such positive directions. Admittedly, we have let our direct giving to the CP get too low. It’s not that we quit giving to missions–in fact, that’s at an all time high for us. Last year, we gave nearly 20% of our income away to missions, and 900K of that went to specifically Southern Baptist mission efforts and institutions (for example, the IMB, Southern Baptist church plants, the seminaries, etc)–but the amount we gave to the CP itself was too low.
While we are doing that, however, we will continue to give directly to institutions we are particularly excited about, bypassing some of the unnecessary bureaucracy. As the system gets leaner, our giving will increase.
I don’t think there’s any question that some of the institutions must cease to function, at least at their current levels. The flatness of the world and cultural shifts in our country have made some of the institutions less necessary today than they once were. Don’t expect those institutions to go away quietly–institutions have a tendency to fight for their survival. This is understandable. Most see themselves as pursuing genuinely good works, and for the most part, they are. The question is not, however, whether their works are good, but whether they are the best investment of kingdom dollars.
I hope the process of change can be expedited. I pray God raises up leaders who act courageously. We need there to be a future for the SBC. We need our seminaries to continue to provide excellent and affordable theological education. Otherwise, how will we stem the rising tide of secularism? We need educated, biblically-grounded and philosophically-aware pulpits. We need organization and support for church planting, both domestic and international. We need organizations to help us serve the poor and the orphan around the world.
Bottom line: At the Summit Church, we plan to increase our CP giving, and pray that the institutions of the SBC increase the speed of their restructuring as well.
P.S. On a related note, I thought Jack Graham’s and Mark Driscoll’s recent discussion about the value of networks/denominations was intriguing and helpful.
Well said. As a younger pastor in the SBC we are doing the same.
I see a lot of parallel b/n what you wrote re: SBC and the state of our current government. Plenty of institutions with good intentions but likely not the best use of our taxpayer money.
Our church also faced this struggle. We opted to simply divide our CP dollars in half. We route one half to the CP in the traditional manner of giving through our state convention, and the other half we route directly to the Executive Committee of the SBC (thus bypassing what gets stuck in the state).
Great article.
You wrote: “I don’t think there’s any question that some of the institutions must cease to function, at least at their current levels.”
Which institutions did you have in mind, and why? Southern Baptists have a storied history both at the national and local level of holding onto things that no longer work, or that have outlived their original purpose and effectiveness.
This brings joy to my heart that your desire is to increase CP giving at Summit. SBs need leaders like The Summit to be a strong example in this area. I agree that the current SBC leadership is strong and moving in good directions. Good post, thanks for sharing your encouraging thoughts on this.
I like your style. Helpful words for the SBC.
I grew up in the SBC world yet still am part of it today also by choice and conviction. God has been gracious and done great things through our convention though we have often given ourselves, Christianity, and the Jesus Christ a bad name. However, I believe we should not give up on the the CP! Even though we are a new church plant we are committing 20% of our funds to go out – the CP, local association, church planting, and ministry/missions opportunities. We are committed to our convention, its entities and ministries, and the CP. Thanks J.D. for the honest and encouraging word!
Well-said with a good heart and level head!
I know this post has been out for more than a year, but I found it while in the process of writing an article about CP and how to promote it in the local church. As a state convention employee, I’d like to give you a little insight from my particular budget that stays in “our state.” While our women’s office has about a $72,000 CP budget, almost 25% of that actually goes directly to help missional efforts and support our SBC missionaries. We sent $15,000 directly to IMB personnel through my budget for Christmas gifts, we supported 8 MKs travel expenses to the IMB MK Re-entry retreat, we spend money to support our state’s Missionary Parents Fellowship, we honor current, past and emeritus personnel each fall and we were able to fund sports equipment for a camp in East Asia out of my budget. (these are just a few examples) Please understand that while most people think the majority of CP money stays within the state, it can be misleading and judgmental without really investigating the facts. Thanks for encouraging pastors to give generously so the Gospel can reach all people.