In no particular order:
“…while shared ministries are supported at all levels of Southern Baptist life, the phrase itself and the concept in general are no longer communicating the allocation of funds clearly, [Alabama Baptist State Convention Executive Director Rick] Lance explained. So going forward, the budget language in Alabama will only deal with state and national percentages.”
So, instead of the ABSC making a statement like, “we divide Cooperative Program receipts equally with SBC entities,” a technically correct statement, since the division was 45% state convention, 45% SBC entities through the allocation formula, and 10% “shared ministries” the ABSC will simply say (for the 2016 budget year): “We keep 53% of a CP dollar and send 47% to the SBC.
This accounting in state convention budgets that includes a vague category of “shared ministries” should end. It is confusing and deceptive, though not nefarious.
Rick Lance’s explanation reported in the article (link) summarizes the situation.
It is the right move to deep-six this confusing business in Alabama. Tell it like it is. All states should drop the fuzzy accounting business.
“We are a mission sending agency in Georgia”
Robert White, the CEO for our state convention, commenting on the “reinvention” of the Georgia Baptist Convention. The “reinvention” includes a public (but not corporate or legal) change of name to “Georgia Baptist Mission Board.”
Some were confused by this, thinking that the new GBMB was going to compete with our North American and International Mission Boards in appointing and sending missionaries. No.
The GBC administrative leadership has tried for years to brand state convention employees as missionaries, “Georgia Baptist missionaries.” While I value our state workers and while they are sent to serve us, there is considerable distance between consulting on church music, preschool, or student ministry with a Georgia Baptist church in Thomasville, Georgia, USA and serving in Tbilisi, Georgia, Asia. The GBMB will do the former, not the latter.
[Florida Baptist Convention] staff persons will no longer serve as interim pastors,
So stated Thomas Green, new CEO of the Florida Baptist Convention. He added the obvious reason for the change in policy: because serving a single church for an extended period of time prevents them from visiting churches every week.
Let’s see. A state’s churches pay a good salary to a state worker. He does his work during the week but on the Lord’s Day is in the one church that pays him a salary, and thus for six months or a year of Sundays. Get your workaday, average SBC pastor talking and this will be a sore spot. While state workers do well for some churches in a interim capacity, wouldn’t the bulk of churches and the state organization be better served if more churches were exposed to more state staff?
I still say that one good state program would be to provide state staff (at no cost) to fill in for smaller churches who would agree to give ther pastor a sabbatical of a month or more.
Thomas Green made a wise decision here. The legacy state conventions should follow his example and do the same.
[The Missouri Baptist Convention is] not primarily a provider of goods and services to [Missouri Baptist] churches
John Yeats, Missouri Baptist Convention CEO, explaining part of the MBC’s “reorientation.”
Yeat’s full statement, one of four numbered points under a list that elaborated the MBC “reorientation” plan, was: “A strategically driven staff. While we continue to counsel with church leaders and meet their needs, we are strategically driven to transform lives and communities with the Gospel. Therefore, we are not primarily a provider of goods and services to churches, but a strategic leader offering a clear, compelling, and cooperative vision for Missouri Baptists.”
Does this make the MBC a parachurch organization?
This is rather tricky and since I’m not in Missouri, perhaps some Missourian will, uh, show me, what this means if it is more than just corporate buzzspeak.
The Christian Index, the oldest Southern Baptist newspaper, stops the presses, disbands trustee board, and becomes the publicity arm of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.
Well, circulation is down all over and the CI will go to a free online presence. The paper did some pretty good reporting in the past. I understand numbers and dollars (there is a considerable savings in Cooperative Program expenditures in this change) but I hope the CI will still have the independence to report on some hard SBC stories. You don’t often see a Baptist board of trustees vote themselves out of existence.
“In January, 2016 there will also be a second phase [of the IMB personnel reduction plan] – a “Hand Raising Opportunity” – for all personnel and staff to pray about whether the Lord is leading them to a new place of involvement in mission outside the IMB.”
I didn’t capitalize the Hand Raising Opportunity, that was from IMB. The HRO is to follow as phase two after the VRIs. This is a little obscure to me. Will certain personnel be given a hint that their positions will be terminated and they might want to pray about raising their hand? Will further non-retirement incentives be offered before the HROs? We will see soon.
Churches bypass state conventions with CP gifts less in 2015 than 2014
Some have suggested an alternative to the system where churches give their CP gifts to their state convention, state conventions then take a hefty slice of them (average of 62%) and then forward the rest to the Executive Committee for allocation to the mission boards, seminaries, etc.
The alternative is for churches to send direct to the EC and there is no denominational law against that. The EC will take the money. For the fiscal year ending September 30, 2014 about 3% of the EC’s CP receipts came direct from churches, by-passing state conventions. That dropped to 2.8% for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2015.
This CP work-around isn’t going anywhere.
_________________
As always, I’m wide open to being told what I missed, misunderstood, or where I am off-the-wall.
As an MBC pastor since 1991, all I know our reorientation means so far is the MBC will have a lot fewer staff in 2016. Some have been let go, others have resigned, and several have retired. Those remaining have so many responsibilities it is hard to know how they will carry out any of them effectively. I am willing to ‘wait and see’ how it all works out. But I am troubled that our allocation SBC vs. MBC has only changed be 1/2 of 1 percent with all these changes.
Thanks for the response. State conventions are trying to find their place in the SBC these days. It’s tough.
“Therefore, we are not primarily a provider of goods and services to churches, but a strategic leader offering a clear, compelling, and cooperative vision for Missouri Baptists.” …This is the part of the MBC reorg that concerns me the most. I see this as saying, “If you want to do what we are doing we can help you”. This is the same concern I have with NAMB with its almost exclusive emphasis on Church Planting. As an SBC pastor this sounds like a ‘top down’ approach. “We can help you IF you want to do what we want to do”… Read more »
NAMB devotes about half of it’s budget to church planting.
When you can’t see the forest because of the trees, chop wood or find your way out.
If I were a IMB missionary,
I would not appreciate them spiritually imploring me to seek God’s will about whether I should “retire,”
while at the same time they are pressuring me to leave.
Why not just be honest about it?
It’s not about a missionary seeking God’s will,
it’s about the IMB having to lay them off because of the IMB’s financial mismanagement.
David R. Brumbelow
When you’re right, you’re right! I do not always (often?) agree with you, but I always respect your reasoning, and this time, I agree with you. The spiritual aspect seems to be window dressing while the decisions are hard business ones–necessary perhaps, God’s will perhaps, but business decisions first and foremost phrased to appeal to “spiritual” people, whatever that means. It reminds me of a time when I had been at a church 7 or 8 years, and the chairman of the Pulpit Committee who brought me in said, “It might be time for you to seek a new church,… Read more »
Thanks, John Fariss.
And you, and everyone here, have a
Happy New Year.
David R. Brumbelow
David R. Brumbelow,
Thank you for your comment. You have said exactly what I have wanted to say. As a former IMB’er in Japan, I just cannot accept what the IMB leadership has been telling the 50+ folks in the disguise of wanting them to resign or take early retirement.
I think this could be the beginning of the end for the IMB. They have brought this problem on themselves because of
mismanagement in many areas of mission work.
John, I don’t think he is right. Internal IMB communication has directed field personnel to put NO pressure on anyone to resign. Of course, they could have gone thru and made strategic decisions about which personnel are most valuable but IMB leadership has decided to respect each missionary and allow them to make the choice. Also, the source if the problem ultimately is not board mismanagement but Baptist priorities. We decided to keep it for ourselves or spend it on other things. The mistake was refusing to face reality until Platt came aboard. So, no, I do not think much… Read more »
I have not followed this one very closely since the early days. Has a plan of action been announced if the number of volunteer resignations/retirements do not reach the budget balance level? Will missionaries stay in place is such does not happen? Also what phase are we now and what is it?
I had dinner recently with a family that took the VRI. They are kind and gracious and didn’t say one negative word about the IMB or our leadership there. They did voice having trouble with exactly what David B is describing. They had trouble with someone asking them to pray about God’s call on there life for missions saying, “we kissed our children and a new born grandchild goodbye 3 years ago and someone asks us to pray if we are where God wants us.” Imo, there was some window dressing to spiritualize this matter because prayer or not, volunteer… Read more »
Not to mention that the plan itself contains a form of subtle persuasion, at the very least. They have been told, “This is the best retirement incentive package you will be offered.” I understand the logic of such statements—if future plans were just as good, what would be the incentive to accept the VRI right now, which is what the IMB wants many people to do. But turning it down means less financial security for their family during their retirement years. I don’t think they are applying “spoken” pressure. The action of the VRI incentive plan itself speaks louder than… Read more »
Rick
What you say seems very clear and accurate to me…and that from a man who appreciates Platt a great deal.
So do you think a VRI has no place in a Christian organization?
Bill Mac
Didn’t say that. I am pondering the incept of “no pressure”. If the word is if we do not reach the desired reduction then we keep all personnel on board and go to a plan “B”. If the word is if we do not get the desired reductions by the first two phases which carry some financial benefit personnel will be “laid off” with much less or nothing, then I would feel pressure in such a situation.
oops “concept” not “incept”
“the source if the problem ultimately is not board mismanagement but Baptist priorities.”
It’s hard to understand this, since according to the IMB FAQ “Despite increased giving to the IMB over the last four years, the organization has consistently spent more money than it has received.”
The source of the problem is financial mismanagement by the leadership of the IMB and a lack of communication to the folks in the pews about the problem. Let’s not lay this at the wrong feet.
David
I think you are right about the lack of communication to folks in the pew being a large part of the problem. I believe the issue was mentioned two or so times at the SBC Annual Meeting but evidently not with passion or burning concern. I doubt that much of that even reached the pew.
I can speak only of the churches I pastored…in those the CP, Lottie and Annie were lay driven (WMU or such) not pastor driven.
I was not aware of the issue until the decision was announced about pulling back missionaries. I am fairly well plugged-in locally and pastors around here didn’t know.
I would hope that with clear information, a plan to get under budget, and a plea for additional giving during the transition our people would have responded generously. I know that I would have given more, as would most of the people I know…