Sorry To Mislead You

I feel I must apologize. I said in an earlier post that I would not say any more about the 50/50 split. But, in light of a recent opinion piece in the Baptist Courier found here. I feel I must respond. So here is the response I sent to the Courier. Lets hope it doesn’t get lost this time

In Response the letter written by Ken Reid entitled, “Someone, explain the urgency”

What is the urgency of changing our CP percentages to 50/50? That is a great question. Allow me to throw out a few facts. First fact, there 6.5 Billion people in the world. There are 4.5 Million people in South Carolina. There are 1.7 Billion people who live in areas where they have little to no chance of hearing the name of Jesus Christ. There are 0 people in South Carolina who fit that description.

Second fact, over 95% of all Evangelical Christian money in the world is used to accomplish church work in only the United States. That is 95% of the money for 5% of the world’s population. Or stated in the opposite way, 5% of the money for 95% of the population. We get upset when 20% of the people in our church do 80% of the work. How much worse is 95% the population with only 5% of the funds.

Third fact, there are only 5,301 IMB missionaries for 6 Billion people! That is 1 missionary for every 1.13 Million people.

Forgive me for the numbers but they show a stark contrast between Christianity in America verses the rest of the world. Last time I checked the Great Commission applied to more than South Carolina. Some might say we are the “ends of the earth” but I would disagree. Here is the problem. The world’s population is exploding and our trying to reach them simply is not keeping up with the pace. And I firmly believe, that if we are about doing the Great Commission, then the other things will follow. So for every 1% we move toward 50/50, ½ of that money will go directly to International Missions.

I would love to speak at length with anyone who really would like to understand the heart behind the motion I made in 2006 and the motion Kirby Winstead made in 2007. Allow me lastly to address the rumor that those who are encouraging this are from low CP giving churches. I cannot speak to others, but I can speak for myself and many others. Calvary Baptist Church, Ware Shoals gave 15+% to the CP last year (2006). We also went on a church wide mission trip and gave to the Lakelands Association. This year we increased our CP giving to 21%. Now if that is a small percentage to you, then I would love to hear what a large one is. We will give another 3% to the Association and we went on a church wide mission trip and sent others to international trips this year. My point is, we are not a low CP giving church. Neither is the church the Kirby Winstead is at nor many other of those who agree that if we keep missions at the heart of the CP then all the other wonderful ministries will flourish too.

Explore posts in the same categories: Uncategorized

Tags: 50/50, Convention, Cooperative Program, Florence, SCBC

You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.