Posted: 6/09/06
Executive Committee drops 10 percent test
By Hannah Elliott
Associated Baptist Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP)—The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has amended a recommendation that the convention encourage the election of SBC officers “whose churches give at least 10 percent of their undesignated receipts to the Cooperative Program.”
The move came amid scrutiny of announced SBC presidential candidates.
The Executive Committee officers released a statement saying they had changed their minds because the “recommendations never were intended to create controversy.”
“Messengers will have a number of decisions to make about a host of issues,” the statement continued. “We hope the revised recommendations will make it possible for messengers to wholeheartedly embrace our initiative to increase support for the Cooperative Program.”
Executive Committee President Morris Chapman said the officers changed their suggestion about giving because they didn’t want it to be viewed as a “litmus test” for candidates, according to a report in Baptist Press, communications arm of the Executive Committee.
“The members of both the executive committee and the (ad hoc Cooperative Program) committee strongly believe in the autonomy of the local church and fully understand that only a local church can decide what portion of their tithes and offerings will be given through the Cooperative Program,” Chapman said. “The language of the recommendations keyed on the word, ‘encourage.’ Nevertheless, if we can dispel misunderstandings about the report, we are obligated for the sake of God’s kingdom and the convention to do so.”
The initial special report came from an ad hoc Cooperative Program Committee, chaired by Anthony Jordan, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.
Along with rescinding the suggestion of a specified amount for Cooperative Program giving, Executive Committee officers also encouraged churches to methodically increase their giving to the program, although they stopped short of mandating a growth rate. Neither did they mention a target percentage to which churches should aspire.
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