These are days of decision for South Carolina Baptists.
For months, we wondered what recommendations would be contained in the report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. We learned what they were not long before the meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando in June. The GCR strategy was overwhelmingly approved by SBC messengers.
KirklandAs the report’s recommendations sank in, we wondered and worried about their impact on the ministries of the state Baptist conventions.
And this is where we as South Carolina Baptists are today.
The process by which the South Carolina Baptist landscape could change — a little or a lot — began last week in Columbia. To change not at all is not an option, given the tenor of the times both economically and missionally.
At last week’s budget subcommittee meeting, institutional leaders from Anderson University, The Baptist Courier, The Baptist Foundation, Charleston Southern University, Connie Maxwell Children’s Home, North Greenville University and South Carolina Baptist Ministries for the Aging made their requests for funding in the new budget.
It was obvious what was on the minds of the presidents. The economy still is struggling, with an obvious impact on giving by the churches. For that reason, Cooperative Program contributions are down.
The GCR plan calls for state conventions to give up more of their offering plate dollars for ministries out of state, especially for international missions.
At the same time, it calls for the North American Mission Board to stop supplementing salaries for church planters within the state conventions. In South Carolina, there are 40 church planters partly funded by NAMB.
It is not realistic to believe that Cooperative Program giving will increase substantially, or perhaps at all, in the months to come. If economics has not done enough to shrink CP contributions, the venerable tool for funding ministries may be further damaged by a recommendation from the task force. The report established an umbrella called Great Commission Giving, which includes praise for designated giving as well as continued support for the CP.
The presidents of the three Baptist universities and Connie Maxwell Children’s Home, especially, continue to be outspoken and passionate in their appeals for increased funding. They also would like to see the 6 percent lost to the institutions in last year’s budget restored for 2011.
For the record, the Courier receives 45 percent of its funding for an annual budget of approximately $1.2 million from Cooperative Program contributions.
On Aug. 24, the South Carolina Baptist Convention will host a “GCR Conversation” at White Oak Conference Center. Its purpose is to “discern what God is saying to leaders about how South Carolina Baptists should respond” to the GCR initiatives, according to SCBC executive director-treasurer Jim Austin.
The impact of the Great Commission Resurgence will make its mark on every facet of convention life. It raises timely questions: What does this mean for my church and our partnerships? How does my church truly impact the world for Christ? What will this church that I love and serve look like in 20 years?
The White Oak gathering is the right time to “get the ball rolling,” as suggested by Austin, on grappling with proposals that could — and, I suspect, will — change the way our convention does its ministries.
State convention president Fred Stone recently spent many hours talking with pastors throughout South Carolina — none of them over 40 years old.
He found, for one thing, that they are a diverse group. According to Stone, in a piece he wrote for the Courier, “They have different ideas about ministry methodology.”
He continued, “They know the value of churches working together in denominational structures for the right goals.” Their support for the CP, Stone said, is “not blind support to a cooperative ‘program,’ but intentional support to a ‘cooperative’ program of Great Commission missions and ministries.”
Whether South Carolina Baptists as a denomination flourish or fade in the days to come will depend on acceptance of God’s leadership and a willingness — an eagerness — to cooperate for the cause for which our convention was established: Great Commission ministries.
For us, and for our sister state Baptist conventions, it is about mission, money and methodology. Our assignment to do Great Commission ministry is unchanging, and it requires faithfulness in giving. Methodology can, and sometimes should, change with the times and according to what is needed.
And we must always be mindful of this: God’s purposes take priority over our preferences.