CBF churches still funding SBC missions?

I don’t think the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the smallish breakaway group out of the SBC that has an undisclosed but rather modest number of churches that aren’t dually affiliated with both the CBF and SBC, occupies a lot of the thinking of Southern Baptists. Who knows, I might be one of the few whose do notice CBF stuff.

A recent Associated Baptist Press article about them did get my attention:

Crumpler, accepting Courage Award, notes CBF churches still funding SBC

With the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship unable to appoint fully funded missionaries for several years and facing the possibility of calling field personnel home unless gifts to its annual Offering for Global Missions increase, CBF churches continue to fund Southern Baptist Convention missionaries by allowing members to designate gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, a former executive director of Woman's Missionary Union said June 25.

You don’t say? And, why not? And isn't that the heart of the problem: there never were 40% of SBC churches that identified with the CBF and were willing to jettison the SBC in favor of the CBF and, in spite of occasional eruptions of SBC nonsense, I don't see the trend being towards more doing that.

We all have our problems. Our own International Mission Board has approved people sitting tight here in the states because funds are not available to send them overseas. Major IMB programs have been cut. On the other hand, the CBF is speaking of recalling some of their few dozen overseas people.

I’d like to think that I would be pleased about whomever is sharing the Gospel, wherever, with whomever paying the bills – even the CBF.

But I do wonder what kind of mission philosophy it is to take dollars from Lottie Moon and redirect them to CBF Global Missions. It’s hard to see a net positive there; but, folks and churches may certainly do what they please with their dollars. Thank God the many of them believe that their dollar to Lottie Moon is well spent and puts committed people in places where they can proclaim Christ to people in places where there isn't already a steady diet if not surfeit of evangelical witness.

If one’s primary love is missions then wouldn’t one expect that even SBC missions, Lottie Moon missions would be praised, commended, and supported? We aren't dealing with a zero sum pool of missions support, are we?

A courage award might be due for those who, whatever their beef with the SBC and whatever their identity with the CBF, continue to support a thriving international missions program.