Although the bottom line for the 2013 South Carolina Baptist Convention $28.6 million operating budget remains unchanged from 2012, the supplemental amount to be forwarded directly to the International Mission Board grew by nearly half.
Messengers adopted the Experience Kingdom Life budget on Tuesday morning, Nov. 13, at the SCBC annual meeting in Greenville. The direct allocation to the IMB was boosted from $400,263 to $583,768, while the amount of Cooperative Program funds to be forwarded to the Southern Baptist Convention remained unchanged at $11,685,000.
The remaining $16,815,000 will remain in South Carolina to support Executive Board ministries, Woman’s Missionary Union and the SCBC’s seven affiliated institutions.
The increase in the IMB allocation reflects South Carolina Baptist messengers’ decision last year, in adopting the state convention’s Great Commission Resurgence report, to increase supplemental funding to IMB by 21.95 percent over three years in order to achieve an amount that reflects what the missions agency would receive if the SCBC split its Cooperative Program gifts 50/50 with the Southern Baptist Convention.
In 2013, South Carolina Baptists will forward 41 percent of CP receipts to the SBC, the same percentage as in 2012. At the time of its adoption in November 2011, the Great Commission Resurgence report called for moving the SCBC toward a 50/50 split of Cooperative Program funds with the Southern Baptist Convention within five years.
The state convention budget anticipates revenues of $28.5 million through Cooperative Program giving and $100,000 through “Cooperative Giving,” which includes non-CP gifts to be distributed according to the direction of the donor.