There are always those who express concern that our first priority is to reach our Jerusalem before trying to reach the uttermost parts of the earth. I would agree. However, in 2014 our South Carolina Baptist churches (all 2,148 of them) received $508,093,300 into their coffers. The $1.28 million in funding to the International Mission Board represents a diversion of only 0.2 percent of the total receipts collectively received by our churches.

The South Carolina Annual Church Profile (2014) shows that, on average, our churches support the Cooperative Program at only 5.4 percent of receipts. Furthermore, 59 percent of Cooperative Program gifts received in South Carolina remain in our state. Together, these figures show that approximately 97.7 percent of all gifts received in South Carolina Baptist churches never leaves the state.

I suggest that if we aren’t reaching our state with 97.7 percent of our gifts, the problem isn’t financial. In fact, I don’t know that reducing the available funds across the state by 0.2 percent would materially impact our outreach efforts in our state. However, a redistribution of 0.2 percent of total receipts (or 4.5 percent of CP receipts) would provide $1.28 million to help reach people with little or no access to the Gospel.

At a time when the IMB is reducing staff due to a lack of funds, this seems like the right thing to do.

Kent Smith
Chairman, Future Vision Committee
SCBC Executive Board