Although South Carolina Baptists came up more than $717,500 short of fully funding their $28.6 million state convention budget in 2012, some state convention officials hope gifts received from churches in the days following the Dec. 31 deadline – monies that were collected by churches in 2012 and possibly intended for use in 2012 – can be used to fund a $400,263 direct supplement to the International Mission Board.

The state convention’s own accounting rules prevent designating any funds received later than noon on Dec. 31 as 2012 revenue. Because the final Sunday of 2012 fell on Dec. 30, any gifts mailed from churches to the state convention on that date or later were not received until early 2013.

Pam Carroll, the SCBC’s chief financial officer, said $743,756 was received during the first three business days of 2013, more than enough to eclipse the 2012 budget deficit. Roger Orman, the SCBC’s associate director for communications and mission development, said the SCBC budget, finance and audit committee and members of the Executive Board might believe it was the “spirit of the intent” of the churches that those gifts be considered for 2012.

The SCBC Executive Board chairman hopes something can still be done to honor the convention’s intention to send a $400,263 supplemental gift to IMB.

“Our prayer is that we will be able to use the money received in the Baptist building after the Dec. 31 deadline to fulfill the commitment we made to the International Mission Board for 2012,” said Executive Board chairman Tom Tucker, pastor of Sisk Memorial Baptist Church in Fort Mill.

“I am so grateful for the significant amount of money received in Columbia during the first three days of this year.”

The question of honoring the 2012 IMB commitment would fall to the SCBC Executive Board, which is not scheduled to meet until April, Orman said.

The supplemental funding for IMB was a key component of the state convention’s Great Commission Resurgence report, adopted by messengers in November 2011 and designed to dramatically increase South Carolina Baptists’ share of funding for global missions efforts.

The 2012 shortfall marked the fourth consecutive year of budget deficits for the South Carolina Baptist Convention and punctuates an 18 percent drop in giving since 2008, although the rate of decline has slowed (from 7.25 percent in 2009 to 2.5 percent in 2012).

Total budget gifts forwarded from churches to the SCBC in 2012 were $27.78 million (excluding gifts forwarded for missions offerings). Cooperative Program receipts, at $28.5 million, represented most of the anticipated 2012 budget income.

The SCBC sends 41 percent of CP receipts to the Southern Baptist Convention, retaining 59 percent for missions and ministries in South Carolina.

With the shortfall, actual income for the in-state portion of the Cooperative Program budget for 2012 was $16.39 million. Of that amount, $7.32 million was allocated to the convention’s seven affiliated institutions, and $9.07 million was designated for ministries of the SCBC Executive Board. The IMB supplement was a “residual beneficiary” in the 2012 budget, meaning it was to be funded only after institutions and Executive Board ministries were funded, Carroll said.

Jim Austin, SCBC executive director-treasurer, said he is optimistic South Carolina Baptists will meet their budget in 2013, which is unchanged from the 2012 budget. IMB is slated to receive $583,768 in supplemental funding in 2013.

The economy continues to play a key role in suppressing giving, Austin said. “Everybody’s still struggling,” he said.

“Churches have to make budgeting priorities,” he added. “Some [churches] started to catch up a little bit this year, [and] giving improved in some churches. I don’t know if that was reflected necessarily in CP giving so much as it was in addressing financial needs left unaddressed because of the recession.”

Austin said he believes Cooperative Program giving will rebound when South Carolina Baptists “realize we’re sending more [money] to international missions.”

“Once all that settles in, there will be more enthusiasm for giving. It just takes a while for all that to percolate out to everybody. We just have to keep repeating it over and over.”

Ralph Carter, pastor of Brushy Creek Baptist Church in Taylors and president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, said he hopes South Carolina Baptists will “recognize the dire importance of our continuing to support the Cooperative Program.”

Carter noted that funding to the state convention’s three universities, a children’s home and two retirement centers – cut in recent years and frozen for five years as part of the Great Commission Resurgence report – could be cut again in four years if CP giving doesn’t increase.

“I hope that won’t be the case,” Carter said. “I hope we’ll make a concerted effort to get the Cooperative Program up.”

Carter said his church increased CP giving by 1 percent in each of the last two years. “I hope other churches will do the same.”

In South Carolina, giving from churches through the Cooperative Program – as a portion of undesignated receipts – declined from 8.7 percent in 2000 to 6.9 percent in 2011. (CP giving statistics for 2012 will be available in February.)

The Southern Baptist Convention launched a “1% Challenge” in 2011 to encourage churches to increase their Cooperative Program giving by at least 1 percent. In the fall of 2011, during the months leading up to South Carolina Baptists’ adoption of the Great Commission Resurgence report, Carter, who chaired the GCR task force, urged pastors to accept the 1% Challenge. At that time, at least 31 pastors led their churches to do so, representing a potential $320,000 in additional funding to the Cooperative Program.

Gary Anderson, director of the church health and Cooperative Program group of the SCBC, said the state convention will be promoting the 1% Challenge “a great deal more this coming year,” including setting up a section on the SCBC website in coming weeks for churches to sign up for the challenge.

April is Cooperative Program emphasis month, and Sunday, April 14, is Cooperative Program Day. Anderson said SCBC staff members will be available to speak in churches across the state that day or on any Sunday during April.

Anderson also noted that the convention’s website (scbaptist.org/cooperativeprogram) has downloadable resources available to churches interested in promoting the Cooperative Program.

 

– With additional reporting by Rudy Gray.