NASHVILLE (BP) – Year-to-date contributions to Southern Baptist Convention national and international missions and ministries received by the SBC Executive Committee are 6.45 percent above the year-to-date budgeted projection, and 4.15 percent above contributions received during the same time frame last year, according to a news release from SBC Executive Committee President and Chief Executive Officer Frank S. Page. The total includes receipts from state conventions and fellowships, churches and individuals for distribution according to the 2015-16 SBC Cooperative Program Allocation Budget.
As of April 30, gifts received by the Executive Committee for distribution through the Cooperative Program Allocation Budget through the first seven months of the SBC’s fiscal year totaled $115,806,604.28. The total is $7,014,937.61 above the $108,791,666.67 year-to-date budgeted to support Southern Baptist Convention ministries globally and across North America and $4,618,397.25 above the $111,188,207.03 received through the end of April 2015.
Designated giving of $143,831,820.80 for the same year-to-date period is 8.68 percent, or $11,489,149.53, above gifts of $132,342,671.27 received at this point last year. This total includes only those gifts received and distributed by the Executive Committee and does not reflect designated gifts contributed directly to SBC entities.
April’s CP allocation receipts for SBC work totaled $16,490,768.19. Designated gifts received last month, meanwhile, amounted to $14,709,022.63.
The convention-adopted budget is distributed 50.41 percent to international missions through IMB, 22.79 percent to North American missions through NAMB, 22.16 percent to theological education through the SBC’s six seminaries, 2.99 percent to the SBC operating budget, and 1.65 percent to the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. GuideStone Financial Resources and LifeWay Christian Resources are self-sustaining and do not receive CP funding.
According to the budget adopted by the SBC at its June 2015 annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio, if the convention exceeds its annual budget goal of $186.5 million dollars, IMB’s share will go to 51 percent of any overage in Cooperative Program allocation budget receipts. Other ministry entities of the SBC will receive their adopted percentage amounts and the SBC operating budget’s portion will be reduced to 2.4 percent of any overage.