I'm feeling sick. I've been doing a little research on the Internet lately, and the more research I do, the more sick I feel.
The topic of my research has been my beloved denomination and how the various denominational entities at the local, state and national levels use the funds that get contributed to them. I am a Southern Baptist. I've been a Southern Baptist all my life. I remain a Southern Baptist because I have become one confessionally. I think those great historic Southern Baptist confessions are still the best. Confessions like the Abstract of Principles of 1858 (of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary), or the New Hampshire Confession of 1833, or the Second London Baptist Confession of 1689. And for the record, I'm ok with the BF&M 2000. I am a Baptist. And more specifically, I am a Southern Baptist. And I am very thankful. But I am also sick.
From just my online research, I have found that my state convention's budget is somewhere around $42,000,000. I haven't been able to determine the SBC overall budget, but best I can tell, the International Mission Board's (IMB) is somewhere around $300,000,000. Here's where I start getting queasy. We've currently got somewhere around 16,000,000 members on roll at Southern Baptist churches, and we are currently fielding somewhere around 5300 missionaries (don't know if that is IMB + NAMB or just IMB). But let's just say for the sake of conservative argumentation we double that number just in case its just IMB numbers. Say we've got 10,600 missionaries. That would mean that just 0.06625 of 1% of my denomination's membership are missionaries funded by the SBC. Now that is a sobering statistic.
Now I realize that this is not the fault of the Convention. Local Southern Baptist churches are ultimately responsible for not being more missional than they are. But what concerns me is what I will call the "machine" that we Southern Baptists have built. I'm just an average joe. But common sense tells me that something is dreadfully wrong with our system. How much of the IMB's $300,000,000 budget actually gets to the mission field? What do they do with the rest of it? I'm not insinuating that anybody is trying to hide any of this information, I just can't find it online. How does the $42,000,000 in my state convention's budget get spent? What about my local association - the Montgomery Baptist Association? Maybe I'm being overly pessimistic here, but it sure sounds like, smells like, and looks like alot of pork. I am just one man, but this man wants to be sure that his tithes and offerings are being invested well in the Lord's kingdom. Lord willing, I'm going to start making some phone calls Monday morning.
I sure hope that Dr. Ascol's resolution gets presented and taken seriously at this year's convention. I think it would be a healthy first step in the right direction.
3 comments:
I too would like to know where the money is spent. You probably would like to say this but don't want to look like a jerk for saying it, so I will be young and stupid and be the jerk for you.
On the Alabama state missions level, we are paying middle-aged men to sit at desks for 40 hours a week to do tasks like inventing new evangelism strategies, as though teaching the Gospel isn't sufficient motivation for evangelism. We call these men "missionaries", but they live like coroporate CEOs- they have big houses in nice neighborhoods, 401k retirement plans, and really cushy, air-conditioned offices. Call them what they are-- executives. They are paid like executives, they live like executives. We ought to stop being silly by calling them "state missionaries."
In my opinion, the "missionary" label is what keeps some people from questioning their work and income. I know some of these men; I have worshipped with them in the churches I have attended. They are nice guys, they love their families, and they are faithful to their local church, but they are not "missionaries".
That's my two-cents. I can't speak for the IMB spending EXCEPT to say that I know for a fact the IMB sends more people when Lottie Moon offerings are large, and sends fewer people when they are small. Christmas 2003 in the city I visited in Asia, there were 4 IMBers; I had several friends graduate from college and apply for Journeymen positions that year, only to be refused because of insufficient funds. After the 2003 offering (which was HUGE) there were 8 in that city, and none of my friends have been turned down. In fact, I personally know three girls who have been sent this year alone.
But you are asking the right questions. Get us some answers.
Don't know if you've seen this, but it's shocking the disparity of how much different state conventions keep vs. pass along.
http://bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=23160
We're in the SBTC, which looks to be (among) the best about passing money along to the SBC.
Ben,
Thanks for the post. And thanks for being brutally honest. In my judgment there is probably warrant for it. The kind of "machine" we have now at my state's level is somewhat alarming. I'm afraid that your description of what may be going on at the state level might not be far from reality. If that is the case we should be ashamed of ourselves for letting it happen and should go to work trying to correct it. I'll keep you posted on what I find.
Gunny,
Thanks for your post as well. Thanks for the BPNews link. It is good to know how we compare with other state conventions regarding contributions forwarded.
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