Messengers will consider a proposal by Giving Plans Study Committee Chairman Ed Yount to adopt a single giving plan beginning with the 2010 budget.

Before 1991 North Carolina’s Cooperative Program giving plan for North Carolina Baptists was simply “the Cooperative Program.” The ability of a church to designate its gifts away from certain Baptist State Convention budget items were already in place, prompted by disfavor of activities at Meredith College and Wake Forest University.

Then negative reaction to events in the Southern Baptist Convention, which received about one-third of North Carolina Cooperative Program gifts for national and international efforts, prompted North Carolina Baptists in 1991 to create an alternate plan.

Gifts from churches giving to missions through this plan still counted as “Cooperative Program” but the distribution would be different. It is important to churches that their gifts be counted as Cooperative Program gifts because giving is one measure of qualifying for representation at the annual meetings of both the Baptist State Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention.

With a new plan, the old, single plan became “Plan A.” It remains by far the largest giving avenue.

In the new plan, or “Plan B,” the portion of funds going to the Southern Baptist Convention was cut by about two-thirds. The money directed away from the SBC was then dedicated to theological education in North Carolina Baptist universities, to “special missions.” Later a small percentage was added to go to a special fund for annuitants.

“Special missions” includes such things as international and state mission partnerships, student language missions, new church starts, theological education in non-North Carolina, non-SBC schools and small amounts for Baptist World Alliance, Associated Baptist Press, Baptist Center for Ethics and the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs.

By 1995 two plans were not enough and “Plan C” was created. The 10 percent portion that in Plan B went to the SBC goes instead to the national Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, with other categories basically the same as B.

By 1999 reaction to Plans B and C prompted a fourth plan. Plan D cut more than one-fourth of the money going to the Baptist State Convention, matched Plan A with gifts to the SBC, cut the theological education at universities and designated five percent to Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute.

BSC Comptroller Robert Simons says combinations and negative designations from churches in every plan mean he really deals with close to 80 different “giving plans.”

Through October, gifts to Plan A are down 1.2 percent. Gifts through Plan B are up 5.4 percent. Gifts through Plan C are down 9 percent. Gifts through Plan D are up 6.3 percent.

Total giving by plan through Oct. 24 is Plan A $18.16 million; Plan B $2.32 million; Plan C $1.37 million; Plan D $4,938,816. Total gifts through Oct. 24 are $725,430 below the same date the previous year and $3.44 million below budget.

In North Carolina Baptist life parties contend between the notion that multiple plans provide a wider tent and more opportunities for churches of diverse opinion to give cooperatively and those who say multiple plans refract missions focus and are divisive.