DALLAS (ABP) – After Cooperative Baptist Fellowship leaders voted Oct. 13 to award “identity partner” status to just four of the nine theological schools that applied for the designation, CBF board members and officials worried about the strained relationships and public-relations fallout that might result from their decision.
It turns out they had little to worry about.
Although representatives from the five schools that did not receive identity-partner status expressed disappointment about not receiving the highest level of funding and scholarships available from CBF, they seemed matter-of-fact about the whole thing. Some school officials said they even expected to be rejected, although they still disagree with it.
Ben Leslie, the provost and senior vice president at Gardner-Webb University, said the School of Divinity draws many students from CBF congregations and will continue to have a strong relationship with CBF leaders. He said officials at the Boiling Springs, N.C., school will continue to work together with the Fellowship for a “mutually supportive partnership.”
“We understand their budgetary constraints … and know that lines had to be drawn,” he said. “We are delighted to be recognized as a supporting school that qualifies for [lesser] CBF financial aid, and we look forward to continuing to serve the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the congregations that support them.”
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, an Atlanta-based network of moderate Baptist churches and individuals, has labored for a decade with the dilemma of funding a growing list of affiliated theological schools from a shrinking budget for outside ministries.
In all, Campbell University Divinity School, Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Mercer University's McAfee School of Theology, and Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary were named Fellowship identity partners. Schools that are identity partners may receive funding for operating costs — the lion's share of CBF's money for schools — as well as scholarships and collaborative project funding.
Schools labeled as “leadership partners” are eligible only for scholarships and collaborative-initiative funding, as well as “relational resources” like job references and referrals.
Five schools applied for identity-partner status but instead were named leadership partners: Central Baptist Theological Seminary; Baptist House of Studies at Duke University Divinity School; Emory University's Baptist House of Studies at Candler School of Theology; Gardner Webb University's M. Christopher White Divinity School; and Logsdon School of Theology at Hardin-Simmons University. Representatives from Central Baptist were unavailable for comment.
Other schools designated leadership partners are: Baptist Seminary at Kentucky; Baptist Studies Program at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary; Texas Christian University's Baptist House of Studies at Brite Divinity School; and Wake Forest University Divinity School.
Two schools — Baptist University of the Américas and International Baptist Theological Seminary — were recognized as global partners, which receive relational resources, student scholarships and initiative funding.
According to Guy Sayles, pastor of First Baptist Church, Asheville, N.C., the four identity schools were chosen based primarily on enrollment, the number of graduates in congregational ministry, level of support for CBF, geographic location, willingness to identify as a CBF-affiliated school and historical connection to CBF.
The strength of the application also played a large part in differentiating between Gardner-Webb and Campbell Universities, since the committee decided to choose only one school in North Carolina. Sayles said in the committee meeting that Campbell University's application was stronger than the one from Gardner-Webb.
Committee members said they wanted to diversify the locations of identity partner schools because closely partnering with two schools in North Carolina , for instance, would further dissipate the funds set aside for schools. It would also belie the Fellowship's goal of being a global organization, they added.
Tommy Brisco, the dean of Logsdon School of Theology at Hardin-Simmons University, which was denied “identity” status, said he understands budgetary restraints. “I just think it was a practical matter to do what had to be done,” he said. “We value the relationship we have with all of our partners, including CBF.”
The Fellowship has allocated $1,618,628 for its 2006-2007 Developing Leaders initiative, which includes operating funds for schools, scholarship programs and grants.
Although CBF has been gradually cutting funds for CBF partners since 1996, that process took on new impetus in February 2005 with a proposal from a partner study committee to limit CBF funding to 20 percent of any partner's revenues. Concern about “financial restraints,” as well as the large amount of money spent on theological schools, triggered the study. At the time, the Fellowship spent about $1.5 million a year on theological schools, or 17 percent of its undesignated receipts.
The partner study called for assigning theological schools to tiers, with financial support varying at each level. The initial limit of five identity partners was raised to six when the committee revised its recommendations in May 2005. The committee also raised the funding cap for each partner from 20 percent of annual revenue to 25 percent. None of the theological schools receives more than 10 percent of its revenue from CBF.
Meanwhile, CBF annual revenues continue to decrease. The total operating budget projections for the 2006-2007 year were initially set at $17,050,000. But according to Terry Hamrick, the CBF coordinator for leadership development, the final budget will be closer to $15.9 million. CBF revenues totaled more than $19 million for the year ending June 30, 2006, while expenditures topped $22 million. CBF officials have said they made up the difference with savings and investments.
Indeed, some of the leadership-partner schools recognized the budget restrictions as a worse sign for the 15-year-old CBF than for the school.
David Key, the director of the Baptist Studies program at the Candler School of Theology, said the initial relationship the Atlanta school had with CBF was a “new model” for Baptists of the South. Now that the partnership has been revised, he said, the school will be fine, but it seems to him that CBF had reverted to an older model.
“I think it's very disappointing for CBF,” he said. “We have Baptist students coming to Candler. We will continue having Baptist students coming to Candler. We continue to recruit the best and the brightest, but the CBF identity will not be there as strongly as it was before.”
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