“Upon questions of policy…”
“5th. That we disapprove of the policy of supplementing the Nacogdoches, Wichta (sic) Falls and other churches in their pastor’s salaries, when such churches do not come in the scope of destitution but are able to maintain and support a pastor; for if such churches are not able to afford the luxury of a $1200 preacher alone, we believe that they should be resigned to listen to the words of truth coming from the mouth of a $500 preacher.”
The above is from a resolution adopted by the Mt. Zion Association in 1898, during very stiff dissension on policies and practices in the Baptist General Convention Texas. A resolution was presented by Elder W. H. Hendrix, then a substitute by Judge R. W. Priest. After discussion, the substitute offered by Priest was adopted. After a preamble, there was a “one-point” statement affirming “our allegiance to all time-honored and blood-bought Doctrines of our Lord and master, Christ Jesus, as are taught in his Holy Word and expressed in the Baptist Declarations of Faith and Church Covenants” (p. 13) – and then 15 points discussing state convention policies.
Excerpt from a report on the “denominational troubles” among Baptists in Texas, Minutes of the Forty-Second Annual Session of the Mt. Zion Baptist Association, October 1-3, 1898, p. 14.
2 comments:
I presume the $500 and $1200 amounts are yearly, as that would be a princely sum in the 1890s?
Yes, I believe that assumption is correct. The year before (1897) the Mt. Zion Association minutes has a "Table of Finance" which includes the pastor's annual salary. Of churches that reported, most were able to give no more than $30-100. The Baptist Church in Carthage paid their pastor $150, and the Baptist Church in Henderson $720.
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