Are Southern Baptist Losing the Vision?                            

by T. C. Pinckney                                                                                                                Vol. XIII, No. 3, March 2000

 
Are Southern Baptists losing their love for missions? Surely not, is the quick reply. But dollar and percentage figures suggest otherwise.

It is true that in dollars, gifts to local churches have grown steadily and currently are at an all-time high. In 1975 gifts to Southern Baptist churches totalled $1,545,977,274 compared to the 1997-98 total of $6,888,796,898. Also, the Cooperative Program (CP) dollars received by the SBC in that 23 year period have climbed annually with the exception of three fiscal years, 1990-91 through 1992-93. During the 1975-76 FY SBC CP receipts were $46,718,469 and in FY 1997-98 $159,583,743.

However, the percentage figures tell a different story. In 1975-76 SBC CP receipts represented 3.02% of total gifts to churches. And though the SBC percentage grew quite steadily through FY 1987-88 when it reached 3.26%, since '87-88 the SBC percentage has declined to 2.32%.

Some reader is sure to think, "Well, what difference does the percentage make as long as dollars keep growing?" At first blush that seems a perfectly reasonable objection, but let's examine it a bit.

Obviously at some point the drop in percentage will cause dollars to decrease also. To take the extreme case, if the percentage got to zero, there would be no dollars at all. But there are more immediate problems than that.

One is inflation. All our figures in this article are in current dollars, but dollars today do not buy as much of most goods as they did in 1987, computer products excepted. That means, to accomplish the same amount of evangelization today as in 1987-88 the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board need more dollars. I computed the effect of annual inflation over that eleven year period. To achieve equal buying power, for every $100 in 1987-88 dollars our missionaries would need to receive $136.98 in '97-98. But IMB did NOT receive that much increase in current dollars. Instead they only got $114.92.

Another part of the challenge is the need both internationally and at home. Internationally, the collapse of Soviet communism has opened doors long closed. The good news is that there are vast opportunities to carry the gospel of Jesus to countries where it was impossible for most of the last century. Having witnessed the failure of their false god, hundreds of millions of hearts are searching for the true God. We must not fail to meet the opportunity God has given us.

Here at home, the false gods of materialism, big daddy government, lust, post-modernism, and ego gloat. The morning paper I read just before writing this article described how the United Methodist Church has decided not to prosecute in a church tribunal 68 ministers who blessed a lesbian "wedding" to protest their church's ban on such ceremonies. When even a once-strongly evangelistic denomination debases itself and so contradicts God's Word, to what depths is our country headed? When we throw newborns into dumpsters, when one of our states encourages in law doctors to kill elderly patients, when our society murders 1.3 to 1.5 MILLION unborn precious babies every year, when a man with neither morals nor shame occupies our highest office and receives sustained high approval ratings, the need for Christ is great, is desperate, and is growing.

One positive aspect is that increasing numbers of Southern Baptists are responding to the Lord's call to enter missions ... foreign and domestic. We set new records virtually every year with new highs in international and North American missionaries. Praise God for His call and for our people's response. But this response emphasizes the need for money.

It is March, and your church's next budget will probably be fashioned and voted by September. Speak to your pastor, to your missions chairman, to your budget or finance committee members, to your Sunday School class members. Urge each of them to help raise giving to the SBC Cooperative Program to at least 10%. When the Cooperative Program was adopted in 1925 the vision was that each church would give half of its undesignated receipts. Surely 10% should be easily attainable.

Also encourage tithing among your church members. Remind them that the Lord has specified we owe Him the tithe. That minimal amount is a debt. If we want to give Him a gift, it must be above the tithe.

Let's prove Southern Baptists still have a great heart for missions. Let's give the funds that Christ can use to win millions of souls to His kingdom.