RUSSELL DILDAY ENDORSES GIVING PLAN

Russell Dilday, former president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, has issued a statement of support of the Cooperative Mission Giving Study Committee report. The statement reads:

“The Cooperative Mission Giving Study Committee report is a positive step forward for Texas Baptists. It does not destroy the Cooperative Program or take us back to a ‘society approach’ but rather more accurately defines the Cooperative Program in a way that is fair to all Texas Baptists. The report should encourage more mission giving from the churches in our state.

“Repeated actions of questionable morality have so weakened the trust on which cooperancy depends that it becomes difficult if not impossible for responsible Christian stewards to blindly put their money in the hands of those who govern some SBC agencies and institutions. Churches need the freedom to direct their mission giving through channels they trust and have confidence in supporting. This report says to those churches that the decisions they make will be respected and treated fairly.

“I urge Texas Baptists to go to Amarillo and support the committee’s report. It is consistent with historic Baptist polity, protects the free choice of every Baptist and every Baptist Church, and should enhance mission giving as churches decide where God would have them send their mission gifts.”

September 1994