SBC Funding Imperiled

Texas Baptists resolved reduce monies for SBC seminaries and programs.

If Texas Baptists follow through with a proposal to reduce funding to Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) seminaries and other selected agencies, the SBC is prepared to appeal directly to the state’s churches in an effort to recoup lost funds. The SBC Executive Committee adopted a resolution in mid-September urging messengers at the Baptist General Convention of Texas, meeting this month, to reject a plan to reallocate about $4.3 million that now goes to the SBC seminaries. The resolution proposes that the monies go instead to three theological schools in Texas (Truett, Logsdon, and Hispanic Baptist). The move by Texas Baptists and the sharp response by SBC leadership is the latest flare-up in the long-standing clash between Southern Baptist moderates and conservatives.The Executive Committee resolution calls the Texas proposal “a unilateral breach of a 75-year partnership agreement” with the SBC’s collecting agent, saying it would “effectively destroy the Cooperative Program process.”In 1925, Southern Baptists launched a unified giving plan called the Cooperative Program to handle ministry financing. The Texas Baptist proposal would virtually cut off Texas funding for five of the six SBC seminaries, eliminate all funds for the SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and include only token funding for the Executive Committee. Texas Baptist convention leaders said that they expected the SBC to launch a campaign such as this and have already begun visiting a campaign in the local churches to bring out the votes for their side. The dispute is likely to climax at the October meeting of the state convention.Copyright © 2000 Associated Baptist Press

Related Elsewhere

The Chicago Tribune also ran a story about the proposed cuts controversy.Visit the homepage of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.Read up on the controversy at the Southern Baptist Convention’s news site, Baptist Press.Previous Christianity Today articles about strife between Texas Baptists and the SBC include:Submission Rejected | State convention counters SBC marriage statement. (Dec. 27, 1999) Texas Baptists Counter Official Southern Baptist Stance on Marriage | Baptist General Conference of Texas goes back to 1963 statement, rejecting 1998 vote. (Dec. 11, 1999) Conservative Texans Form New Group | (Sept. 11, 1999) Split Nearing for Texas Convention | (Feb. 9, 1989)

Copyright © 2000 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Also in this issue

Undying Worm, Unquenchable Fire: What is hell—eternal torment or annihilation? A look at the Evangelical Alliance's The Nature of Hell.

Cover Story

Undying Worm, Unquenchable Fire

Biotech: Tissue of Lies?

Is the Stock Market Good Stewardship?

Camus the Christian?

Machiavelli Marooned

The Back Page | Philip Yancey: Getting a Life

Gwen Shamblin in the Balance

Updates

School Vouchers Face Tight Races

Briefs: North America

Quotations to Contemplate

Fire and Ice

Vatican: Protestants Not 'Sister Churches'

Smack Down

Colombia: Abducted Pastor Pays His Own Ransom on Installment Plan

Briefs: The World

Nigeria: Will Shari'a Law Curb Christianity?

North Korea: 7 Christian Executions Suspected

Ecuador: Word and Spirit Together

Grunge Boomers in Concert

Good News for Witches

Rightly Dividing the Hell Debate

Coming to Terms

Free to Be Creatures Again

Beyond Self-Help Chatter

Big-Picture Faith

Love Your Heavenly Enemy

The Transcendental Gore

More Than a Badge and a Gun

Lessons From Two Sides of AIDS

Shelly Wift's Tips for Witnessing to Witches

A Wicca Primer

Reporting at the Speed of Cyberspace

Editorial

Honest Ecumenism

Scouts in a Jam?

The Fallacy of Missile Defense

The Perils of Harry Potter

In the Word: The Grim Shepherd

Your World: Unrighteous Indignation

View issue

Our Latest

News

Black Clergy and Christians Grapple with Charlie Kirk’s Legacy

Many say the activist’s inflammatory statements on race should inform how we remember his life.

News

A Sudden Death: Voddie Baucham, Who Warned the Church of Fault Lines

Known for confronting critical theory, moral relativism, and secular ideologies, Baucham died a month into leading a new seminary in Florida.

Why Many Black Christians Reject the Evangelical and Mainline Labels

The history of a prominent church pastored by MLK in Alabama shows the reason African Americans often don’t embrace either term.

News

Pastor Abducted in Nigeria Amid Escalating Kidnapping Crisis

Armed gang continues to hold him after family paid the ransom.

Review

The Liturgy of American Charisma

Historian Molly Worthen studies dynamic leaders, eager followers, and their shared efforts to “consecrate a new reality.”

Inside the Ministry

The Next Gen Initiative

Casting a captivating vision of following Jesus for the next generation.

News

Where Refugees Were Seen as an Opportunity from God

In Sweden, a church continues to advocate evangelism of Muslims, despite criticism from all sides.

Apple PodcastsDown ArrowDown ArrowDown Arrowarrow_left_altLeft ArrowLeft ArrowRight ArrowRight ArrowRight Arrowarrow_up_altUp ArrowUp ArrowAvailable at Amazoncaret-downCloseCloseEmailEmailExpandExpandExternalExternalFacebookfacebook-squareGiftGiftGooglegoogleGoogle KeephamburgerInstagraminstagram-squareLinkLinklinkedin-squareListenListenListenChristianity TodayCT Creative Studio Logologo_orgMegaphoneMenuMenupausePinterestPlayPlayPocketPodcastRSSRSSSaveSaveSaveSearchSearchsearchSpotifyStitcherTelegramTable of ContentsTable of Contentstwitter-squareWhatsAppXYouTubeYouTube