During the Wednesday morning business session of the Nov. 15-16 annual meeting of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, messengers adopted a pared-down budget of $28.6 million for 2012.
The spending plan reflects sweeping changes in how South Carolina Baptists will allocate Cooperative Program dollars – a direct result of messengers’ approval of GCR task force recommendations the previous evening. The 2012 budget, smaller by nearly $1 million less than last year’s budget, directs more funds to international missions and to church revitalization and planting, while reducing in-state spending, particularly for the SCBC’s educational and benevolent institutions.
In presenting the revamped state convention budget, Mendel Stewart, chairman of the SCBC’s budget, finance and audit committee, said the leaner budget reflects a continued decline in Cooperative Program giving from the convention’s churches. Through September, CP giving was down 2.8 percent from the previous year, he noted.
The 2012 budget marks the third straight year of shrinking budgets for the SCBC. Since 2009’s high-water budget of $34.25 million, the state convention’s operating budget has contracted by 16.5 percent ($5.65 million).
“The last three years have been very difficult – for our budget,” Stewart told messengers.
One of the recommendations of the GCR report urges churches that give less than 10 percent of receipts through the Cooperative Program to increase their CP giving by a minimum of 1 percent. Stewart noted the “good news” that, since the GCR report was released in August, 31 churches have pledged to increase their Cooperative Program giving, representing approximately $320,000 in new CP support in the future.
The CP portion of the 2012 budget (excluding cooperative gifts of $100,000, which are distributed according to the written intent of the donor) represents a 41/59 division of funds with the Southern Baptist Convention, with the majority kept in state. The GCR task force report envisions a true 50/50 split with the SBC in five years.
In keeping with the GCR task force recommendation that funding to the International Mission Board be increased by nearly 22 percent over the next three years, the 2012 budget includes a new line item of $400,263, which will be sent directly to IMB. The IMB designation is in addition to the state convention’s $11.7 million allocation for the Southern Baptist Convention.
The 2012 budget includes a convention staff pay increase of $1,500 per position, marking the first salary increase for SCBC staff members since 2008.
A motion from the floor to amend the budget to restore funding to McCall Royal Ambassador Camp to 2011 levels failed.
After SCBC officials fielded two requests for clarification from the floor, messengers voted to adopt the proposed budget without revision.