CBF Notes:

                                                         Vol. X, No. 6, June/July 1997

More Churches Move away from the SBC: The May 1997 issue of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s Virginia chapter reports that, “In 1996, 35 [Virginia] churches contributed to CBF for the first time, bringing the total to 287 churches.”

Folks in the pews should understand that working with and contributing to the CBF is not another way to do Southern Baptist Missions. Rather, it is a departure from the SBC. CBF is not just another route; it leads to a different destination. And a crucially important aspect of that differing destination is an increasingly different theology: a different conception of what Scripture is, the authority of the Bible, and ultimately whether there are roads to salvation other than Jesus Christ. Of course, it is the prerogative of each church to decide where it contributes, what it believes. But each member of each church should fully understand the destination before taking the first step of the journey.

CBF: Modest Budget Increase: During both of the last two years CBF has had to reduce its budget because donations did not grow nearly as fast as expected. The CBF Coordinating Council recently approved a FY 1997-98 budget of $14.3 million which includes a new 2.5% reserve to cover any shortfall. Finance Committee Chairman Ed Vick said, “It’s the minimum we can get by with and still serve our mission.” The budget anticipates a 5% increase in undesignated receipts and requires spending $584,487 from a global missions fund which now totals some $7 million accumulated in earlier years. The new budget accommodates an increase of only six in the Fellowship’s 141-member missionary team. There are significant decreases in funds budgetted (though similar to amounts actually spent this year) for student scholarships and institutional support for eleven theological schools. The 1996-97 budget anticipated contributions increasing by 20%, but they have only run about 2%. Therefore the Council was forced to cut the current budget by 10% in January. [Fellowship! June 1997, p 15]