Southern Baptists recently reduced the size of their international missionary workforce, falling from 5,400 to roughly 5,000 missionaries. There has been much discussion about the cause of this decline and what we must do to fix it. Currently, a task force is working to answer these questions with a focus on how our conventions can be more efficient. However, I think I've got this problem figured out.
Twenty-five years ago, SBC churches gave an average of 10.6% of all receipts to missions through the Cooperative Program. Today, we give a meager 6.08%. Think about that for a moment. If in 2008, Southern Baptists did not receive a single penny more than what was given, but if our churches were as missions-minded and selfless as we were a quarter century ago, the result would be 4.52% more to the Cooperative Program!
Think about it this way: In 2008, Southern Baptist churches received over nine billion dollars($9,013,807,646). If Southern Baptists gave 10.6% to missions in 2008 like we did in 1984, we would have contributed an additional $407 million to missions. This is enough to add almost 10,000 more IMB missionaries!
As a pastor, I know what I would tell a church member who said they could not tithe because they could not afford to live off of 10% of their income. I would say that God can do more with 90% than they can do with 100%. That is also true for churches. Too many churches think that they must sacrifice giving to missions in order to pay for staff salaries and/or programs. This is simply not true. God will always provide for His people as they are faithful with what He has given them.
I pray that our churches will return to previous levels of generosity. I expect that when we do, we will see God bless faithful stewardship.
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