Comparison of BGCT & SBTC budgets
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___What's the difference between a dollar given to Baptist causes through the Baptist General Convention of Texas and a dollar given through the competing Southern Baptists of Texas Convention?
___Analysis of budget figures published by both the BGCT and SBTC shows some areas of difference. BGCT data for this analysis was taken from a one-inch-thick book of budget details distributed to Executive Board members. Data published by SBTC consisted of a news story and chart published in that convention's monthly magazine.
___Off the top, 51 cents of every dollar given to the SBTC's Cooperative Program is automatically forwarded to the Southern Baptist Convention. That leaves 49 cents for use in Texas.
___The BGCT allows churches to determine their own split between Texas and worldwide causes, with the average division being 66.4 percent for Texas and 33.6 percent for worldwide causes.
___Within the remaining money each Texas convention allocates for in-state use, the biggest difference is support for institutions.
___The BGCT next year will provide $25 million through Cooperative Program gifts to 11 schools, four child-care agencies, six health-care agencies and six ministries to the aging. This institutional support accounts for 58 cents of every dollar within the Texas side of the BGCT's budget.
___By comparison, the SBTC supports only one institution, Criswell College in Dallas. That school will get $130,000 from the SBTC next year, representing less than 3 percent of the convention's in-state expenditures.
___The largest single in-state line item for SBTC is missions and evangelism, which will receive $1.6 million or 35 percent of the Texas funds next year. A major part of the convention's missions and evangelism budget funds church-starting efforts. This year, the convention will start about 75 churches, according to an article in the convention's September magazine.
___By comparison, the BGCT's 2002 budget allocates $3 million for church missions and evangelism, which includes church starting, partnership missions, Mission Service Corps, River Ministry and community ministries. That is 7 percent of the BGCT's Texas budget allocations for the year. In a separate line item, the BGCT allocates an additional 3.5 percent of its in-state funds ($1.5 million) for further support of new churches.
___The BGCT also has a major emphasis on church starting, producing about 275 new congregations per year.
___Administrative costs consume a much larger percentage of the SBTC's contributions than of the BGCT's, according to the information published by SBTC. Their documents show 13.5 percent of next year's in-state budget allocated for operational and financial service.
___That compares to 6.6 percent of the BGCT's 2002 budget allocated for the chief financial officer's office and financial management of the convention.
___The SBTC budget shows another 6 percent of in-state funds going toward administrative expenses. There is no clear comparison for this category within the BGCT budget, although the BGCT does allocate 3 percent of its in-state receipts for the executive director's office, which also encompasses the human resources unit and communications center.
___The SBTC budgets 12.5 percent of its in-state funds for a communications line item. That compares to less than 2 percent of the BGCT's in-state budget allocated to communications.
___Another line item for the SBTC is church ministry support, which includes women's ministries, prayer ministries, missions education, music ministry and evangelism training. The $130,000 allocation to Criswell College also comes out of this $855,820 line item. Church ministry support accounts for 19 percent of the SBTC's 2002 budget.
___By comparison, the BGCT allocates 10 percent, or $4.3 million, of its Texas budget for church health and growth. With these funds, the BGCT supports churches in Bible study, discipleship, counseling services, leadership development, membership resourcing, church music, congregational and personal stewardship, church facilities and preaching resources.
___The BGCT's line item for church health and growth also includes the office of minister/ church relations, which is a separate line item for the SBTC. This area accounts for 14 percent of the SBTC's Texas budget, compared to 0.74 percent of the BGCT's budget.
___One difference is that the SBTC's minister/church relations function also covers work with associational directors of missions. That is a different line item for the BGCT, accounting for 3.6 percent of the BGCT's Texas funds.
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