Messengers to the 205th Annual Meeting of the South Carolina Baptist Convention adopted a $26 million Cooperative Ministry Plan, approved a bylaw change, and adopted five resolutions. More than 830 messengers attended the meeting held Nov. 10–11 at Taylors First Baptist Church.
CP Budget
The 2026 budget goal of $26 million — reduced by $500,000 from the previous year — allocates 25.16 percent, or $6, 541,699, for international missions; and 20.34 percent, or $5,288,400, for North American missions and other Southern Baptist Convention causes.
The SCBC will retain 32.17 percent, or $8,364,200, for state missions efforts, and 22.33 percent, or $5,805,800, to be distributed among its three Baptist universities and five other ministry partners.
Along with the 2026 budget, they also approved the recommendations of the convention’s Nominations Committee and Committee on Committees for service on SCBC entity boards and committees.
Bylaws change
A second reading of a bylaw revision, presented by committee chair Chris Dewease, updated the term “affiliated” to “in friendly cooperation” in places that were overlooked in earlier cases and revised the membership of the Executive Board.
Dewease also reported that a bylaws study group had declined a recommendation to redefine the qualifications of churches to seat messengers at the SCBaptist annual meetings to include other means than Cooperative Program receipts to support state and national missions and ministry. The CP is explicitly defined at the national level and should not be redefined at the state level, the group determined.
“CP remains one of the most comprehensive and efficient channels to fund Southern Baptist mission work — a system envied by other denominations and foundational to a century of missional effectiveness,” the report stated.
Resolutions
Messengers also adopted five resolutions, including statements on encouraging a faithful biblical witness in the face of violent attacks against free speech; affirming life and opposing drug-induced abortions; the urgency of personal evangelism; and predatory gambling.
They also expressed appreciation to the host church, Taylors First Baptist.
(This story will be updated.)