BGAV Budget Continues to Cut SBC

by: T. C. Pinckney                                                                                      Vol. XIII, No. 9, Nov/Dec 2000
 

The 19 October Religious Herald published reports and information for the 14-15 November annual BGAV meeting. The proposed budget is always of interest. The total 2001 budget of $15,000,000 remains the same as for 2000, but there are two important changes.

A new budget section has been added titled "Church Planting and Revitalization" funded at $1,282,632. Of that amount $927,632 is committed to planting new churches and $355,000 to revitalizing existing churches. Two areas have been cut to provide these funds. Virginia Baptist Mission Board funds are reduced $425,200 and money going out of state to "World Mission Causes" is cut by 2% in all three budget tracks. The impact of the World Mission Causes reduction is that $300,000 less goes to these causes.

In the WM 2 track (the default track in which your church was automatically placed unless it voted specifically for WM 1, WM 3, or designed its own giving plan) there have been some additional changes. The International Baptist Theological Seminary & IBLA which had received 1% have been eliminated. The WMU Northeast Coordinator was reduced from 2% to 1%. And three other ministries were each cut 1%: Gateway Ministries to Unreached People Groups, the Romany People of Southern Europe, and the Northeast USA Project. Five liberal organizations were each increased by 1%: The Baptist Center for Ethics, the Baptist World Alliance, the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, Associated Baptist Press, and the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. BTSR was raised from 9% to 10%, in striking contrast to the pittances sent to the six SBC seminaries. These SBC seminaries are allocated percentages ranging from 0.09% to 0.31%!

Thus the BGAV continues its steady policy of focussing on its own efforts, giving more and more to liberal groups, and reducing its commitments to the SBC.