Pastor D. J. Horton has written an excellent article on the GCR for the South Carolina Baptist Courier from the perspective of a young pastor. Horton is pastor of Anderson Mill Road Baptist Church in Moore, South Carolina and chairman of the administrative committee of the South Carolina Baptist Convention Executive Board. He is also enrolled as a D.Min. student at Southeastern Seminary. We believe his perspective is shared by many young pastors (and not so young pastors!) across the Convention. We hope you will read his fine article.
Great article and I agree with him !
Comment by Ken — May 22, 2010 @ 7:51 am
“The truth is, no one knows. However, if CP giving decreases, it can hardly be blamed on GCR changes (if adopted). CP giving has been on a steady decline for years. So have almost all other categories of giving. Why? Because we have failed to make disciples out of our parishioners. One of the byproducts of immature Christians who have never been discipled is a complete disregard for the Lordship of Christ over their finances (not to mention every other area of their life). Voluntary cooperation is just that — voluntary.”
BINGO! BINGO! BINGO! If the church was actually trying to wean members off milk and onto meat, then you wouldn’t have ever needed a GCRTF. The steamroller would run you over. How many times do our kids and teens need to hear David and Goliath?
“But I am saying that people in South Carolina can absolutely find churches that will explain how they can be saved into a new life in Christ and out from under the condemnation of sin, death and hell. What is my point? A person in northern Egypt cannot do this. A person in Pakistan cannot do this. A person in the Philippines cannot do this. A person in southern India, eastern Europe, or New Guinea cannot do this. Arguably, most of the population of the world cannot do this. How in the world can we believe what we believe, preach what we preach, and keep the vast majority of dollars given through the Cooperative Program on our soil? It just does not make sense. Frankly, one of the weaknesses I believe the GCR report contains is the relatively small shift of dollars to the IMB. I think most young pastors would like to see even more dollars on the national level going to the IMB. ”
Agreed. Face it, people will give more time and effort to the things they can see up front. In the meantime, our people overseas are sucking wind for basic necessities for lack of funding. I know, I just saw it over there in the last year.
Comment by kamatu — May 23, 2010 @ 10:44 pm