CNBC.ca - Canadian National Baptist Convention

Change is not always bad

Last year was a year filled with change and many adjustments to the operation and strategies of the CNBC. The changes at the North American Mission Board (NAMB) and the reduction of the Cooperative Program receipts have obliged us to make many critical adjustments that have impacted the ministries and functioning of the CNBC. The result of these adjustments will have positive and negative consequences for our ability to help and support our churches.

The bad news is that with the Cooperative Program receipts lessening by $60,000 last year and $35,000 so far this year we have been forced to cut major funds for support and administrative services to our churches across Canada. There is no more room to cut.

We are operating now in a bare bones budget and more cuts will dramatically affect our ability to serve our churches and deliver the services they need to function well. We have tried to resist every temptation to cut field funding and have been successful so far, but it must be noted that further reductions in the Cooperative Program will result in being obliged to cut in ?the field.

The best answer to this dilemma is to reverse the trend and increase the funds given to the Cooperative Program. We must seek ways to encourage churches who do not give to begin giving, even if their giving starts at a very low percentage of their general offering. We must also encourage churches who are giving less than 10 percent to gradually increase their percentage giving till it reaches 10 percent. We must also make sure that our new churches begin the habit of giving 10 percent of their general offering as soon as they begin to collect a general offering.

The good news is that as a result of new NAMB policies and strategies, our church planting efforts will increase dramatically in the next few years. The addition of fully funded regional church planting catalysts (7) who have been deployed across Canada will enable us to have personnel who are focused on helping to start new churches. These new churches will be fully contributing partners with the CNBC and will increase our capacity to reach Canada for Christ.

We have also opened a new CNBC office in Mississauga (a city next to Toronto) to better serve our churches in the East. Therefore, there are now two national offices of the CNBC, one in Cochrane and one in Mississauga. The Mississauga office will house the Church Starting and mobilization teams and the Cochrane office will house the other CNBC teams.

We are also restructuring our teams in the CNBC under the four vital signs of healthy churches. They are: New Believers, New Disciple-Makers, New Communities of Faith, Transformed Communities. We will add to these four vital sign initiatives three support activities: Equip, Send and Facilitate. Our current structure: Share, Start, Strengthen, Send, and Support will be replaced by these four new vital signs and three support initiatives. This will enable us to structure for the local church.

Our thrust will be to organize ourselves so that we can help existing churches and church plants to see these four vital signs become a reality in their local church. Our strategies for church plants and for existing churches will be the same and will focus on helping all our churches see these vital signs in their local context. This will mean reworking our websites, Annual Church Profile, delivery of services, programs and meetings, strategies, consultations and training, and our materials and online delivery systems.

Change is not always bad and ?when you know that God is in charge and that He can guide us to adapt ?and adjust, you also know that He will lead us into the future and that future will help us to achieve our highest priorities to reach people for Christ and glorify God. ?