BAPTIST FINANCIAL SERVICES AUSTRALIA

David Slinn – CEO

 

Baptist Financial Services (BFS) continues to resource Christian ministry notwithstanding the COVID crises we have been experiencing over the last 2 years.  We continue to thank our many supporters who utilise our financial services to help us support churches and ministry across Australia.  We have been able to continue to grow and thrive, with total assets now exceeding $500m at 31 December 2021. It is helpful to pause and recognise that this is only possible due to the support of our clients and our collective partnership in ministry.

During 2021, client funds grew by 5.7%, whilst we unfortunately did not see any growth in our overall lending to churches which is due to the COVID-19 impacts on church activity.  Overall lending to ministries across Australia nevertheless totalled an amazing $276m at year end of which $127m was lent within NSW & ACT.  Fortunately, our loan clients have navigated the COVID crises remarkably well and we are very blessed that we have no loans requiring COVID related support at the present time.

BFS capital increased to over $40 million and over $1 million in grants were made to the Association of NSW & ACT Baptist Churches. Over $2 million of grants were made by BFS to Baptist work nationally. Several key sponsorships were also provided to support ministry events and activities around Australia. This included support to develop a national domestic violence training program for Baptist leaders and significant increased support to Australian Baptist Ministries. BFS also continues to sponsor the online Church Finance Handbook which had a major revamp during the year.

BFS’s GiveWay online platform (www.giveway.org.au) enables electronic payments to be made easily to churches and organisations to facilitate offerings and donations for Church ministry or appeals. This was significantly upgraded to a new platform during the year and is real help to churches during this COVID period when electronic giving is more important than ever.

We also welcome on board Robert Ellis as a new National Relationship Manager and Peter Chi as a new NSW Relationship Manager. Wolfgang Ziegelmeir is reducing to a 2 day per week part time role during 2022 as he transitions to retirement.  We sincerely thank Wolfgang for his faithful service at BFS supporting churches through NSW & ACT over many years.

You can visit our website www.bfs.org.au to learn about more of the recent church projects we have supported or to find out how to get involved with BFS.