The thousands of Southern Baptist ministers and their spouses – who have discovered, to their disappointment and dismay, that their retirement incomes sometimes fall short of meeting minimum requirements for daily living – have for decades had a faithful ally in what was the Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, which now is GuideStone Financial Resources in Dallas, Tex.
Through its Adopt An Annuitant ministry, GuideStone currently offers help to approximately 2,500 retired ministers, workers or their widows by providing monthly income to those who qualify, and pays out more than $6 million in assistance. Approximately $1.5 million of the program’s yearly funding is provided by the Cooperative Program, but most of the money comes from the direct gifts of individuals, groups and churches in the Southern Baptist Convention to the Adopt An Annuitant ministry.
Each gift to the Adopt An Annuitant fund – which is tax deductible to the maximum amount allowed by law – is channeled to those in need, with nothing taken out for administrative costs.
Now, a new ministry on the horizon initiated by South Carolina Baptist Ministries for the Aging promises to brighten the outlook for retired Baptist pastors, missionaries and their spouses who desire to live at one of SCBMA’s retirement communities in Darlington and Laurens, but who need – and who qualify to receive – financial help.
SCBMA’s board of trustees on Feb. 28 voted to establish a fund to provide supplemental financial assistance awarded on the basis of guidelines now being crafted by trustees and which should be ready for approval by the board in August with implementation in 2009.
Money for the fund will come from the annual Mother’s Day Offering in South Carolina Baptist churches, which last year amounted to approximately $250,000. That offering has been used in recent years for capital improvements at the Bethea and Martha Franks retirement facilities.
Richard McLawhorn, president of SCBMA, is excited for good reason about the possibilities of the fund aimed at assistance for those who have “given their lives to serving Jesus and who now, in their senior years, need some help.”
Nothing would please McLawhorn more than to see this year’s Mother’ Day Offering soar to half a million dollars, doubling the donations by churches in 2007.
The Adopt An Annuitant ministry of GuideStone Financial Resources (with a solid record of achievement in helping care for retired Southern Baptist pastors, workers or their widows) and the new initiative by South Carolina Baptist Ministries for the Aging (with its potential for providing assistance for retirement living to Baptist pastors, missionaries and their wives) are tandem tools for ministry to many in need of help.
The annual Mother’s Day Offering for South Carolina Baptist Ministries for the Aging is set for April, with the Southern Baptist Convention’s yearly Adopt An Annuitant emphasis in June – both to benefit retired servants of our Lord who seek nothing more than, and deserve nothing less than, the privilege of living their remaining years with dignity. As their Baptist family, we owe them at least that much.