May 7, 2001

Study committee urges new negotiations with NAMB
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___The Baptist General Convention of Texas needs to renegotiate its "cooperative agreement" with the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board, according to a BGCT missions study committee.
___At the same time, the BGCT should carefully monitor the policies and procedures of NAMB in appointing missionary personnel and in endorsing chaplains, the Missions-sending Agencies Study Committee says in its 21-page report released May 4. Of particular concern is required allegiance to the 2000 version of the Baptist Faith & Message doctrinal statement.
___If the situation with chaplaincy endorsements is not clarified satisfactorily, the BGCT may need to explore the possibility of becoming an endorsing body for chaplains, the report notes.
___A subcommittee of the full BGCT study committee focused on issues related to NAMB. This subcommittee was chaired by Ophelia Humphrey of Amarillo. The subcommittee met with NAMB President Bob Reccord and eight other top administrators as part of their research.
___The committee notes a problem has arisen in the joint selection of missionary personnel between NAMB and the BGCT because NAMB requires adherence to the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, but the BGCT has voted not to endorse that version of the faith statement.
___This creates a conflict for BGCT-supported missionaries who are candidates for joint funding with NAMB, the committee says. The report also asserts that changing the faith statement used in hiring missionary personnel without the consent of the BGCT violates the 1991 covenant agreement between the BGCT and SBC.
___Likewise, the 388 Texas Baptist chaplains who have relied on NAMB for mandatory denominational endorsement are facing a squeeze, the committee says. To be newly endorsed or to renew endorsement through NAMB, chaplains must affirm the 2000 version of the Baptist Faith & Message.
___"Discussions with NAMB personnel indicate some long-term chaplains may be in danger of losing their endorsement if they do not or cannot agree with the restated statement of faith," the committee explains. "Some Texas-based chaplains have moved their certification to another agency."
___As an example of the problem, the committee reports that "many, if not most" of the 45 Baptist chaplains serving in the Texas prison system have said they will not affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.
___More than 20 chaplains and pastoral counselors have asked the BGCT to become an endorsing body, the report states. "The outcry of chaplains in Texas and other areas ... may lead the BGCT to re-examine its position and reconsider ecclesiastical endorsement and support of chaplains."
___Many of the concerns the BGCT committee notes regarding NAMB stem from confusion over the so-called cooperative agreement last negotiated between the BGCT and SBC in 1991. Historically, every state Baptist convention cooperating with the SBC has signed a cooperative agreement outlining how mission work will be jointly conducted and funded in that state.
___The most recent cooperative agreement between the BGCT and SBC was crafted before NAMB came into existence through the merger of three former SBC agencies in 1997. That agreement was between the BGCT and the former Home Mission Board.
___A fundamental problem in current conversations is that the study committee regards NAMB as a continuation of the HMB, but NAMB leaders view their agency as an entirely new entity. No new cooperative agreement has been negotiated since NAMB's creation.
___Further, since the 1991 cooperative agreement was hammered out, "the population of Texas has increased greatly, and the state now is the second-most-populous state in the nation, with more than 10 million unchurched people," the committee explains.
___The percentage of U.S. missions funds expended by NAMB in Texas has not been adjusted to reflect this demographic change, the committee adds. "For example, in 1999, NAMB spent almost $27 million on church planting. Texas had approximately 20 percent of the church starts in the nation. NAMB supported Texas church starting with less than $1 million. So with 20 percent of the church starts, Texas was funded less than 4 percent of the total spent by NAMB."
___The need for increased attention to the growing mission field in Texas has been addressed by two previous BGCT committees without bringing about change, the report adds. This "underscores the problems created by the lack of a functioning cooperative agreement with NAMB."
___The BGCT committee also believes NAMB has violated the 1991 cooperative agreement by supporting projects and personnel in Texas through the new Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, formed as a competitor to the BGCT. "Historically, the HMB (now NAMB) agreed it would not unilaterally sponsor projects in the state or assign personnel except through the BGCT."
___The Texas committee also expresses frustration with a perceived lack of efficiency on NAMB's part.
___"The documentation which NAMB requires in order to forward agreed-upon funding is sometimes tedious and time-consuming," the report explains. "Funding for Texas missions projects must fit NAMB strategic priorities or it cannot be considered."
___Similar concerns caused the Mississippi Baptist Convention to retain for its own administration the amount of funding NAMB previously returned to Mississippi for missions work, the report states. The Texas committee recommends the BGCT begin doing the same to increase efficiency.
___Other problems with efficiency are cited in NAMB's relation with Texas Baptist Men and Texas Missions Service Corps.
___"The performance of NAMB in regard to Texas Baptist Men has been disappointing," the report explains. "Delivery dates for essential mission educational materials have been missed, sometimes by months."
___Further, the missions education materials now produced by NAMB "appear to be designed to promote NAMB strategy rather than telling the story of missions and encouraging participation in mission activities," the committee complains.
___Likewise, the BGCT's Mission Service Corps office, which provides nearly half of all Mission Service Corps volunteers serving within the SBC, has not been adequately resourced by NAMB, the committee states. NAMB's support staff for Mission Service Corps has been cut by half, meaning the BGCT had to add two more staff members of its own to take up the slack.
___A final area of concern cited by the BGCT committee is NAMB's classification of missionary personnel.
___The committee sought to find out the number of missionaries fully funded by NAMB but got no satisfactory answer from NAMB leadership, the report says.
___"We believe it is very confusing to Texas Baptists when they see reports of 5,000-plus missionaries serving with NAMB (the overwhelming majority of whom are only partially funded by the mission board or serve as volunteers) and almost 5,000 serving with the International Mission Board, who are fully funded. There is a great discrepancy in the term 'support,'" the committee concludes.
___Although NAMB officials never cited the number of missionaries fully funded by NAMB, the committee says it believes the count to be about 40, less than 1 percent of the 5,000 missionaries claimed by NAMB.

Get printer-friendly version of this story


Send this story to a friend

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.

---

Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!