CBF cuts current budget due to giving drop

by Greg Warner                                                                                       Vol. XVI, No. 5, May/June 2003

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, facing a shortfall in contributions, will reduce spending 10% this fiscal year and use up to $1 million from reserves to stave off deeper cuts. Members of the CBF Coordinating Council, meeting in Atlanta Feb. 20-22, dealt with those budget cuts and adopted a less ambitious budget for its next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

Philip Wise, chair of the group's finance committee, told the council $1.8 million has been cut from the organization's $18 million budget for 2002-03. Most of those reductions were from within the organization -- including $888,000 from its missions program -- with another $638,000 coming from CBF's ministry partners.

Wise, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Lubbock, TX, blamed the slow economy and its effect on CBF's donors, primarily churches. "We can't control how the money comes in," he explained. Wise detailed several measures to relieve the budget pressure and adjust to shifting giving patterns. "We can't continue to operate the way we've been operating and hope it all works out in the end," he said.

Two staff-led task forces are looking for ways to generate more revenue and reduce expenses. And spending, including funding for ministry partners, will be adjusted in line with actual monthly receipts and monitored closely.

The budget to be recommended for next fiscal year is $17.9 million -- 9% less than the original 2002-03 budget but still 7% more than the reduced budget. Wise explained the finance committee felt comfortable projecting the increase for next year despite the recent experience. "We believe we can grow out of this. It's kind of a Republican strategy," he quipped.

The proposed budget must be approved by the CBF general assembly in June. It will retain many of the spending reductions imposed this year. Total funding for CBF's ministry partners, such as divinity schools, is projected to remain about the same -- $1,686,915 in 2002-03 and $1,712,100 in 2003-04. [ABP]