CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (ABP) — A Christian organization that tracks giving to religious groups says other denominations will be watching this year's Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, which funds overseas missionaries of the Southern Baptist Convention.
John and Sylvia Ronsvalle of empty tomb, inc., a research-and-service organization based in Champaign, Ill., say the nation's second-largest religious body is approaching "a critical choice point" in December 2009.
"Will the Southern Baptist Convention step up to the plate and hit the ball out of the park this Christmas?" the Ronsvalles ask in a media advisory promoting their newest study, The State of Church Giving through 2007: What Are Our Christian Billionaires Thinking — Or Are They?
The book cites the SBC as a case study, describing a denomination with a "clearly stated goal" for achieving the 2,000-year-old mission of preaching the Christian gospel to all people groups, but lacking an adequate funding plan for meeting that goal.
The Ronsvalles calculate that by increasing their donations to the SBC International Mission Board's upcoming Lottie Moon Christmas Offering by an average of $7 per member, the denomination would raise enough money to field an additional 2,800 missionaries the IMB says it needs to engage every global people group in evangelism.
Instead of seeking to promote foreign missions exclusively through traditional channels, the case study suggests mobilizing "retail billionaire philanthropists" — small donors who combine in large enough numbers to support multi-billion-dollar institutions — by enlisting "wholesale billionaire philanthropists." These large-capacity donors would pledge matching gifts to increases in the 2009 Lottie Moon Offering, 100 percent of which is designated for missions.
The Ronsvalles say the difference between the SBC and many other denominations and multi-denominational groups is that Southern Baptists have a large, at-scale, clearly stated goal around which congregations can rally.
The question, they say, is, "Will Southern Baptists put their donations where their stated goal is?"
"Will they seize the present opportunity to put feet on the gospel, and set a standard for other denominations to follow?" the Ronsvalles ask. "The eyes of the nation are on the Southern Baptists."
The State of Church Giving through 2007 also tracks membership, giving, and mission-support trends in various denominations in the United States. It also includes cost estimates for addressing eight causes of death in children younger than 5 in 68 countries that account for 95 percent of child deaths around the globe.
The book is available from Internet bookstores and from the empty tomb website. It retails for $34.
-30-
Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.
Previous ABP story:
Study says SBC funding plan inadequate to achieve stated goals