No “Exodus Mandate” From the 2007 SBC

No resolution calling on Southern Baptists to take their kids out of public school was forthcoming from this year’s convention, which met this past week in San Antonio.  Whether that’s a sign that the convention is moving on, after defeating similar resolutions in the past, or whether its originators are planning to come up with another strategy, will remain to be seen.

According to the Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools (SBACS) only 5% of the churches in the denomination support or sponsor a Christian school.  In our opinion, that’s a poor showing for the largest mainstream evangelical Christian denomination in the country. 

Of those schools, the vast majority are not affordable to the average church family.  Tuition and fees at the largest 10 Southern Baptist related Christian schools averages over $9,000 per year per student, and doesn’t include extra curricular fees. 

It would be a major benefit to the churches if Southern Baptists were able to develop a nationwide system of affordable, accessible Christian schools.  Catholic schools are considered educational ministries, and in addition to nominal tuition and fees, especially for members of various parishes, are largely underwritten by the Christian education budgets of the diocese.  Most Baptist schools aren’t even underwritten by the churches that sponsor them, and some of them must even pay rent for the use of the church facilities they occupy.  We can do better than that.  We must do better than that, if we are going to hold on to our future generations.