SBC to cut funds to Baptist Alliance

Christian Century, March 8, 2003

The Southern Baptist Convention plans to cut its contribution to the Baptist World Alliance by 30 percent next year and begin its own international network of "like-minded Christians." Though the SBC will remain, for now, a member of the nearly century-old Alliance, it will develop a "new concept" for world relationships approved recently by SBC leaders.

The move stems from Southern Baptist unhappiness with the BWA, which is believed poised to grant membership to the rival Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. CBF is a breakaway group of moderate Southern Baptists that employs its own missionaries and has its own funding apparatus.

The Southern Baptist Executive Committee asked a task force to explore a new program, tentatively called "Kingdom Relationships," to "look toward strengthening relationships with other likeminded Christian bodies" worldwide. The program will be part of an evangelism initiative begun at the 2002 SBC annual meeting.

The shift in funds, recommended by a nine-member study committee, was approved February 17 with no dissenting votes and with virtually no discussion. On the next day, the 88-member Executive Committee that conducts SBC business between annual meetings, approved a $182 million budget for 2003-04, reducing its $425,000 annual funding for BWA by $125,000 and redirecting those funds to the new initiative.

The SBC is the largest contributor to BWA, an umbrella body of 200 Baptist unions and conventions representing 45 million baptized believers in 193,000 churches. A spokesperson said the decision amounted to a "rupture" with the BWA.

"The Baptist World Alliance began in 1905 by Southern Baptist leadership that gave input to this worldwide organization," said Wendy Byan, BWA communications director. "This is one of the reasons why this decision to significantly reduce financial support to BWA is a cause for much sadness today. For a charter and founding member to do this is a rupture in the long history of cooperation and involvement."

Denton Lotz, executive secretary of the Alliance, based in Falls Church, Virginia, was not immediately available for comment. Ryan noted the impact the funding reduction would have. The $49.5,000 contribution was about 80 percent of the member-body contributions and 24 percent of total revenue, which includes church and individual donations.

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship declined comment on the SBC action. "We are in due diligence in our application process with the BWA," said CBF spokesperson Ben McDade.

Right after the BWA meeting last summer, SBC Executive Committee president Morris Chapman had expressed doubts about the 16-million-member denomination's relationship with BWA. Following the mid-February action, Chapman told reporters that he was "deeply disappointed" in the procedure used by the BWA membership committee in considering the CBF request. In July, the BWA membership committee said it was considering the CBF application if it would distinguish itself as "separate" from the SBC, which the CBF said it did last September.

Saying that Southern Baptists "have strong relationships with other Baptist groups who are not part of the BWA," Chapman added that the new SBC-led worldwide emphasis "won't be a duplication of the BWA."

He said that the new network might include Bible and church-growth conferences involving "primarily Southern Baptist entities" around the world--"not a formal organization with formal membership." It will take 18-24 months to "determine how that will evolve," he said.--ABP