BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (ABP) — Daniel Vestal, coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, said the Baptist World Alliance “is going to find a new vision and new life” in the next few months and years, even though it recently lost its largest member and donor.
Speaking to the CBF Coordinating Council for the first time since February, Vestal urged the Fellowship and its members to support BWA, a worldwide network of 211 Baptist bodies. “It's time for us to step up and step out and say we are good members [of BWA],” Vestal said. The Fellowship is expected to increase its support of BWA.
The Southern Baptist Convention, which helped form the Baptist World Alliance 99 years ago, voted June 15 to withdraw its membership and funding from BWA over allegations of theologically liberalism. The international organization denies those charges, saying the major factor in the SBC's departure was BWA's decision last year to accept the Fellowship as a member.
BWA will celebrate its centennial next year in Birmingham, England. “I think it is very important for CBFers to go,” Vestal said of the 2005 meeting.
Vestal also told of his 10-day tour of four African nations earlier this year that convinced him of the need for greater CBF mission involvement, particularly in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis there. “HIV/AIDS is a moral problem, a medical problem, a social problem, and political problem — and it is our problem,” said Vestal.
The Coordinating Council heard about a new partnership between CBF and Call to Renewal, an anti-poverty advocacy group comprised largely of Christian evangelicals.
The Fellowship already fights poverty on a practical, local level through Partners in Hope, the Fellowship's rural poverty initiative, Vestal said. The anti-poverty partnership with Call to Renewal allows CBF “to make our voice heard in the public-policy arena,” Vestal said.
Yonce Shelton, national coordinator and policy director for the Washington-based group fielded questions from council members. “Poverty is the one issue with a biblical imperative that churches can agree on,” he told the council.
“This represents a step for us,” Vestal said of the new partnership, “and this body needs to get comfortable or uncomfortable with this.”
One council member said she was uncomfortable with Call to Renewal's support for President Bush's faith-based initiatives, which channel government money to religious social-ministry groups, including churches. Critics say the initiatives constitute government support or establishment of religion.
Shelton said Call to Renewal supported faith-based initiatives at the outset in order to take a positive approach and because they were supposed to be matched by public-policy changes and funding. “We supported faith-based initiatives with the understanding …you can't just rely on churches,” he said. “You have to have the commitment to programs as well.”
“We took a lot of heat for that,” Shelton said. “The rhetoric” from the Bush administration was always good on faith-based initiatives, he continued. But without the policy changes on poverty to back it up, Call to Renewal decided last year “we don't think we can support” the program, Shelton said. “We see it as crumbs from the table to churches that are already overworked….”
Coordinating Council members heard other reports including a recommendation from finance committee chair Philip Wise of Lubbock, Texas, that the 2005-2006 CBF “not-to-exceed” budget be set at $16,470,000. Wise said the budget, a 2.9 percent increase over the 2003-04 budget, is designed to avoid the mid-year cuts made recently due to a shortfall from projected income.
A financial report, covering the first 11 months of the current fiscal year, showed undesignated gifts of $14,159,070 through May 31. That total is $552,162 under budgeted projections.
However, Wise noted that expenditures of $13,409,231 for the same period have kept the Fellowship financially stable. Receipts for the current fiscal year should total approximately $15,600,000, said Wise.
The Council heard a report from CBF's Partnership Study Committee, which is studying the organization's funding of and relationships with other moderate Baptist ministries and institutions. Committee chair Charles Cantrell of Mountain Home, Mo., said the group will have its report ready before the council's October meeting.
Barbara Baldridge, co-coordinator for global missions, introduced new field personnel to the council. Two anonymous gifts totaling nearly $7 million, which were reported earlier, were credited with the expansion of CBF missionaries and mission projects.
In response to a question, Baldridge said CBF currently has approximately 143 career missionaries on the field in addition to short-term workers and those holding secular employment.
Baldridge said morale remains high among field personnel despite continuing uncertainties throughout the world. “The level of difficulty varies greatly per area and even day-to-day,” she said. “We keep a close tab on the situation around the world. Most of our field personnel say 'I'm staying right here no matter what.' Still, we keep in touch with them and keep their safety and best interest in mind.”
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