June 27, 2024
In April of 1860, Deacon Benajah S. Sheats, a Baptist layman/farmer from Clarke County, stood to make a motion at the Georgia Baptist Convention meeting in Macon. “That this Convention recommend to the Churches and Societies composing this body, when sending up their contributions annually . . . for benevolent objects, that they send up some funds designated . . . for the support of our indigent, old, worn-out, or unfortunate ministers of good standing. (1860 GBC Minutes, Macon, GA p. 17)
For more than sixty years the ministry established provided relief to scores of ministers and their widows. It, and other ministries like it across the south, paved the way for the creation of an SBC minister’s retirement board in 1918, which became Guidestone. The new ministry was called, “The Indigent Ministers Fund.”
Before the Civil War, it was rare for Baptist ministers in the rural south to receive any compensation other than occasional gifts in kind for their ministerial service. Many lived in poverty. One description of a Baptist minister by Brother George Soelle, a Moravian Evangelist, prior to the Revolution stated, “He is a very poor man, for it is the method and plan of the Baptists to give their preachers nothing, and they must support themselves by the work of their hands although they’re expected to care for and visit those entrusted to their care.”
On another occasion, Soelle recorded in his journal stopping by a Baptist minister’s farm. When invited to stay for supper, Soelle declined, telling them he had accepted an invitation to dine with someone else. In his journal he confessed, that he didn’t have another invitation, that the Baptist preacher and his family were so poor he did not feel it right to take any of their food off the table. (Unpublished Diaries of Moravian Evangelist Brother George Soelle, Moravian Archives, Winston-Salem, NC, ca. 1771-1773, p. 14)
Not all, but many Georgia Baptist ministers and their families did live on the cusp of poverty, especially in poorer sections of the state. Those who were aged or infirm may not have had family to support them in their old age. It was a problem across Georgia and the rest of the South. There are no statistics reflecting needs during the antebellum years, but the need as observed by Deacon Sheats, was there. It was further reflected by the fact that other states either had or began to take similar measures to provide for aged ministers.
Two years after this ministry began, in 1862, there were three recipients of the fund. Numbers reflected in the GBC minutes during the 1870s and 1880s indicated there were typically about 10 ministers and/or their widows served in any year, although for privacy purposes the minutes indicated names and numbers were not always included in reports. In 1890, 13 were reported receiving assistance from the fund. In 1893 there were 17 ministers and widows. In 1895 there were 21 ministers and widows. In 1897 the number had grown to 30 ministers and widows of ministers. Two years later, in 1899, the GBC Minutes state, “There are more than two score (40) indigent ministers and penniless widows of deceased ministers that must be supported, either wholly or in part, by our Christian liberality, or left to go in hunger and bare for clothes.”
It wasn’t until after Reconstruction (ca. 1875) that Baptist ministers in the South began to receive compensation for their ministry on a regular basis. The vast majority served as bivocational ministers, generally engaged in secular work as farmers, teachers, clerks or mill hands. Churches typically extended an annual call in the fall with a January starting date for the church year. Salary was not paid until after the cotton crops were harvested in the fall. If the crops were bad, it was not uncommon for churches to get one or more years behind in paying their minister.
Increasingly, in the early decades of the 20th century, as Southern Baptists began placing more emphasis on stewardship, more bivocational ministers were receiving some compensation for their service. It was not until after WWII that churches across the South began to engage ministers in a full-time vocational ministry. In fact, the term “full-time” shifted in meaning during this era from bivocational pastors preaching every Sunday at the same church to one of full-time paid vocational ministry as understood today.
The need to provide for some of these elderly or disabled ministers and their widows and children led to Deacon Sheats’ motion for Georgia Baptists to establish The Indigent Ministers Fund in 1860. In the 1872 minutes of the GBC, the committed reported, “Ministers of the Gospel contemplated in this report are not objects of charity, but are soldiers of Christ, entitled justly and rightly to their support from the citizens of Christ's kingdom, as a fair remuneration for past services. They are older brothers of the family who have worn themselves out in planting seed for the younger members to reap.”
In the early 1890s, there was an effort to establish a permanent endowment fund to support the fund. Unfortunately, this never came to fruition as the U.S. economy experienced a major depression. In fact, as giving declined during the depression the needs went up. Furthermore, because all GBC affiliated ministries at this time were the recipients of designated giving, the appeals for Indigent Ministers were often overshadowed by more evocative missions like the Orphanage or Foreign Missions. The 1900 minutes of the GBC reported the Ministers Fund had been borrowing money and carrying over operational debts for several years.
The Indigent Ministers Fund was phased out with the creation of the SBC Annuity Board (Guidestone) in 1918 as churches were encouraged to enroll their pastors in that program. However the need remained, especially for many bivocational ministers and their widows who had served in small rural churches across the South.
Today the desire to provide for those who have faithfully served lives on through “Mission: Dignity.” Created in 1981 by the Annuity Board it was originally called, “The Adopt an Annuitant Plan.” It was renamed “Mission: Dignity” in 2008. The bulk of recipients currently are widows.
This is a program, administered by Guidestone, that provides funds to retirees who receive little retirement income. Mission Dignity does not receive CP or other direct Convention funding. Its operational costs are funded by a trust and other funding comes from contributions of Baptists across America. In recent years this has included the Georgia Baptist Healthcare Foundation, which has provided grants.
In 1860, Deacon Sheats saw the need to take care of those aged servants who had faithfully served the Lord. He was active in the life of his local church, was a rare layman to serve as moderator of his association and attended both the Georgia and Southern Baptist Conventions. As a layman, he spent time in the company of ministers traveling to and from meetings and was no doubt privy to conversations regarding the needs of aged ministers. As a Baptist statesman, he choose to champion those needs. His obituary ended with the poignant observation, “It is perhaps, needless to add that he died in the triumphs of the Christian faith.”
Today, in the spirit of Deacon Sheats, it is still possible for Baptists to meet the needs of retired ministers or their surviving widows who are living on the edge.
Each year an offering is received in many SBC churches to support this ministry, although Guidestone says “any Sunday can be Mission: Dignity Sunday.” Some people include this ministry in their will and some SBC retirees under Guidestone designate a portion of their monthly income to Mission: Dignity. This is not about robbing Peter to pay Paul. It’s going the extra mile to give honor to whom honor is due.
This year, Mission: Dignity Sunday is June 23, 2024. Those who wish may donate online at MissionDignity.org or make checks payable to Guidestone and designate Mission: Dignity and mail to: Guidestone, 5005 LBJ Freeway, Ste. 2200, Dallas, TX 75244-6512
