ATLANTA (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship will dedicate an annual offering for religious liberty and human rights — named for Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter — and use a third of the proceeds to support the Baptist World Alliance.
The recommendation came from a CBF/BWA Task Force, commissioned last year to increase financial support for and CBF participation in Baptist World Alliance, an umbrella group of 210 Baptist bodies around the world.
The Fellowship receives an offering every year during its national general assembly. The task force report, approved Feb. 17 without opposition by the CBF Coordinating Council, permanently names that offering the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Offering for Religious Liberty and Human Rights.
The division of offering funds — two-thirds to CBF causes and one third for BWA causes — will remain in place for five years. All funds will be designated for religious-liberty or human-rights purposes.
Walter Shurden of Macon, Ga., chair of the task force, said the offering's focus on religious liberty and human rights will “plug into much of the momentum that founded CBF.”
The link to the Carters “is a natural designation,” Shurden said. The former president and first lady are “world citizens” with a passion for religious liberty and human rights, he said. Carter received the Nobel Peace Prize for his human-rights work, as well as BWA's human-rights award. The Carters also are “faithul” CBF members, Shurden added, and have agreed to attach their names to the offering.
Another part of the CBF/BWA report commits the Fellowship to develop mutually beneficial relationships with national Baptist unions worldwide, encourages CBF's “partner” theological schools to develop “mutually beneficial relationships” with BWA-related theological institutions, and asks CBF's member churches to develop “mutually beneficial relationships” with BWA-related churches worldwide.
The CBF/BWA study was triggered by CBF's recent acceptance into BWA membership, which in turn triggered the Southern Baptist Convention's withdrawal of membership in and funding for BWA.
The Fellowship currently contributes $40,000 a year to BWA. Until recently the Southern Baptist Convention contributed $425,000 a year.
Some CBF observers expected the task force to increase CBF's budget support for BWA.
Moderater Bob Setzer, a pastor from Macon, Ga., told the council BWA member bodies and CBF churches “have done a good job” of making up the funding cut from the Southern Baptist Convention. The money is not as significant as the other aspects of the partnership,” Setzer said.
It is not known how much money the annual offering will supply BWA. In the past, the offering has collected between $30,000 and $100,000, some of which has gone to BWA. But CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal predicted the new designation of the offering will increase the amount.
The task force also establishes a method of nominating CBF representatives to the BWA General Council, its primary decision-making body, and other BWA committees. A separate action defines ways to increase the involvement of younger CBF members in BWA. And the report asks CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal to participate in the current effort to revitalize the North American Baptist Fellowship, the regional BWA body that covers the United States and Canada.
The task force report approved by the council does not require endorsement by the CBF general assembly.