Some Numbers to Chew On                                                                     

by   T. C. Pinckney                                                                                                                                   Vol. XV, No. 2, February 2002

Numbers, especially comparative numbers, seem always to hold an interest for us. So much so that our temptation is to put too much stock in numbers and ignore more important things such as quality and/or the reasons behind the numbers. Nevertheless, even though numbers aren’t everything, they are something and may indicate an important trend. So, keeping in mind that trends can change, let’s consider some numbers of interest to Baptists, both conservative and moderate.

Those who would later form the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship first met in August 1990 in Atlanta. Then in 1991 at a second meeting they constituted the CBF, so it is important to remember that CBF is a young organization. That fact is reflected in some of the following numbers.

                                    Churches sending contributions to CBF:

                ‘92       ‘93        ‘94        ‘95       ‘96       ‘97        ‘98        ‘99        ‘00        ‘01

                841   1,210    1,377   1,450   1,514   1,615   1,682   1,806    1,797    1,776

Change:                   +409     +167     +73      +64     +101     +67     +124         -9         -21

Again, these are the numbers of churches sending donations to CBF during each year. Such a church may have voted to affiliate with CBF, or it may be simply transmitting a designated offering from one or more of its members. One must assume that some of the churches were only sending in designated offerings, but it seems likely that most are formally affiliated. Note that while CBF recorded steady growth from ‘92 through ‘99, surely it cannot bode well for CBF’s future that in 2001 donations were received from 30 fewer churches than in 1999.

Number of students in CBF partner schools: The total is 1,668 with the two largest schools being the Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University in Texas and the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, each with approximately 300 students. The smallest is the Baptist Studies Program, Candler School of Theology, Emory University, with 61. This compares with 13,889 students at the six SBC seminaries.

Dollars Received: In the 2000-2001 fiscal year CBF revenue from all sources was $16,776,700 which compares with total SBC receipts of $347,909,477. SBC gifts increased above the previous year by 1.8%. CBF gifts increased 0.3%.

Texas: While considering dollars, let’s look at what is happening in Texas, the only state other than Virginia to have two state conventions, one conservative and one moderate. An article in the Baptist Standard, the newspaper of the moderate Baptist General Convention of Texas, reports that the BGCT treasurer reported on 25 September that receipts for the first eight months of the fiscal year were 6% under budget for the total Cooperative Program and that the Texas state portion was 11% under budget. The BGCT Administrative Committee chairman attributed these shortfalls to (1) the presence of an alternative, conservative state Baptist convention and (2) reaction to budget changes passed at last year’s BGCT annual meeting. Those changes drastically cut funds flowing from Texas to the SBC seminaries and Executive Committee. In response, numbers of churches have moved from the BGCT to the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, and many more have sent part of their giving directly to Nashville. As a consequence, the proposed 2002 budget is 8.8% below the 2001 budget.

In closing, keep in mind that numbers can change. However, going on the information we have, prospects appear bright for the SBC and growing dim for CBF and the BGCT.