“Because of our partnership with more than 47,000 churches, Southern Baptists’ generosity and gifts from thousands of private donors, the North American Mission Board and Send Relief are not dependent on government funding,” a spokesman for the SBC’s North American Mission Board told RNS. “There are times, in relief settings, when we collaborate with other non-governmental organizations that have received government grants. Sometimes those organizations provide food, funding or other material goods that we utilize for our response. We would never accept any assistance that would require us to compromise our faith and ministry in any way.”
In North Carolina, Brunson said that Southern Baptists will help rebuild after disasters whether the government provides funding or not, and if Baptists on Mission can get a family back in their home by doing what he called “essential rapid repairs” for about $20,000 while using volunteer labor, he said, “as far as I am concerned, God is providing these funds.”
(This story has been updated with a statement from the North American Mission Board. The name of the Center for Baptist Leadership has been corrected in this story.)
This article originally appeared here.
