It's Budget Time!

by     T. C. Pinckney                                                                                                                                      Vol. VII, No. 6, August 1994

At this time of year most Southern Baptist churches are deciding their budgets for the next fiscal year. This year conservative SBC churches in Virginia need to give special attention to several budgetary matters.

First, be sure to which Virginia budget track donations from your church go. Remember, if your money goes to the WM3 track, NOT ONE PENNY GOES TO THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION, and if your money goes into WM2, only about 17 % flows on to the SBC Cooperative Program. If your church has not voted which budget track to support, chances are strong that your gifts go to WM2. That is because when the original version of this plan was begun ALL CHURCHES WERE AUTOMATICALLY PLACED IN IT UNLESS YOUR CHURCH SPECIFICALLY WROTE SAYING OTHERWISE. Thus, many churches even today are in the very liberal WM2 track without even realizing it.

WM1 is closest to the budget divisions Virginians followed before 1990 for over 20 years. In WM1 approximately 35% of your Cooperative program contributions flow through Richmond to the SBC budget. The remaining 65% fund the Baptist General Association of Virginia budget. WM1 is (in my judgment) the best of the three "official" budget tracks, but it has one important flaw: Taking part in WM1 does nothing to balance off the efforts of liberal churches to reduce money going to the SBC Cooperative Program by giving through WM3 or WM2.

In order to protect our foreign and home missionaries and our six seminaries from the punitive efforts of liberals, many conservative, loyal Southern Baptist churches have adopted giving programs designed to direct larger percentages to the SBC and smaller percentages to the state. The unofficial conservative goal is a 15/85 division, that is, directing the state to keep 15% and send 85% to the SBC Cooperative Program budget.

In Virginia, churches have the right to design their own giving plan, vote upon it at a church business meeting, and then inform the state treasurer of the decision in a brief letter. The letter can be very brief. It need only say: “.....Baptist Church has voted that its Cooperative Program gifts be used as follows: 15 % for sections A, B, and C of the BGAV budget, and 85% to be sent to the SBC Cooperative Program budget undesignated." If your church chooses to negatively designate against any line items in the state budget, as many conservative churches do, then add another sentence to the letter: "The portion retained by the state is to fund all line items except... " (then list the items your church voted not to fund).

Second, as SBCV president Tommy Taylor wrote in a recent letter, "Churches currently in budget preparation for the new year need to consider including both the S.B.C.V. and The Baptist Banner in their budgets."

-The Banner has been serving Virginia Baptists for almost seven years now and has grown to a circulation of 11,000. No subscriptions are even offered because the trustees and editor have felt its purpose is to get out the word to all who want and need it without regard to ability to pay and because we have believed the Lord would provide what He wishes us to receive. Also, remember that, as reported elsewhere in this issue, with the new SBCV budget The Banner will no longer be supported through the SBCV budget. Therefore, if you believe The Banner serves an important function, please urge that The Banner be placed in your church budget.

-The SBCV is just completing its first full year of functioning (although preparations were underway for seven months earlier). As with any new endeavor there has been a necessary period of getting organized, developing plans and procedures, and getting our work underway. This time of little evident movement but absolutely essential preparation is now rapidly transitioning into effective ministry as is clearly documented in the separate article in this Banner, "SBCV Executive Committee Elects Executive Director, Approves Budget Recommendations." Thus the SBCV also merits a high place in your church's budget.

Please place both The Banner and the SBCV in your church's budget.

Correction: "Virginia Budget Giving Plans" in our last issue contains an incomplete statement. ("Incomplete statement" is a euphemism actually meaning "your editor goofed"!) In describing how to move your church from WM2 to WM1, last month's article said, "If your church decides that sending about 35% of its gifts to the SBC is enough, your treasurer can just check the WM1 block" on the yellow form he sends in each month to the state treasurer. Checking the block alone is not enough. Such decisions must be made by a vote of the church. After the vote, the church should send a letter to the state treasurer along with its next donation informing him of the vote. The letter may be just one sentence, "... Baptist Church has voted that its Cooperative Program gifts be distributed under the WM1 budget track."