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Southern Baptists Report Donations Drop
The nation's largest Protestant denomination has been beset with internal strife for 20 years.
By the Associated Press
September 26, 2003

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)--The Southern Baptist Convention could face a financial crisis within a few years unless churchgoers start giving more money to the denomination, according to an internal report.

Giving by Southern Baptist church members decreased steadily from 1968 to 1998 as a percentage of their earnings, down to 2.03 percent, according to the Champaign, Ill.-based Christian research group empty tomb inc., which provided some of the statistics used in the report....

...However, he said that ``some of our Southern Baptist leaders, particularly in mega-churches, have developed a relationship to denominational giving that is unhealthy for them and the denomination. ... It is absolutely crucial those pastors not fail in their responsibility as leaders.''...