6.4. BU Administrative funds
6.4.1. Formation of the Baptist Union Trust Fund (1920)
Churches, and that the BWA expects to be consulted in the event of any contemplated change in the [Baptist] Union's financial arrangements regarding such grants."309 Further, it was at this very Assembly that a number of other resolutions were passed, in particular concerning ministerial educatioa These resolutions were understood to be for the purpose of safeguarding the intellectual part of the Baptist ministry.310
Blackwell be appointed Treasurer of the new Fund, in succession to Mr Riemer who had administered the other three funds, which had now formed the BU Trust Fund.
By 30th June 1922, in the first BU Trust Fund financial statement, the three funds: Meyer Loan Fund, 100,000 Shillings Fund and the Centenary Fund were recorded as the main generators of capital for the BU Trust Fund. That is, out of the total revenue of
£3,483.19s. lid., the (founding) three funds had contributed the following respectively:
Centenary Fund (£721.18s.7d), Meyer Loan Fund (£1,247.13s.lid.) and the Shilling Fund (£1,255.2s. 5d.).316 Regarding the assets of this Trust Fund, most of the money went into loans to churches (£1,566.14s.3d), loans to the Baptist Union (£831,19s.7d), and a loan to the BU Book Depot (£60), while £700 went to a fixed deposit at the United Building Society, among other deposits. But interestingly, during the 1923 BU Assembly, the Fund's interest loan clause was amended in order to ease the financial burden of the European churches - the beneficiaries of this Fund. The new amendment read: 'That provision shall be made in all loans that the capital shall be repaid at the rate of 10% per annum, provided that in special instances, at the discretion of the Executive the rate of repayment may be smaller, or the repayment may be suspended for such period as the Executive may determine."317 Like the other funds discussed above, the European Baptists' commitment to the success of this Fund was also evident. For example, in the financial statement of the year ending 30th June 1923, there is a record of a family donation (£33.3s.8d.), a third instalment, from Mr and Mrs W.
Chapman.318
By 1924, the Fund had a revenue of £3,399.18s. 9d. and like the previous years, most of its assets were in the form of loans (£2,545.4s.3d.) to churches.319 The same was the case in 1925, the year during which there was a revenue of £3,373.Is.6d., while assets were valued
3.6 BU Trust Fund Statement of Revenue and Expenditure for the period 1* October, 1921, to 30* June, 1922, in BU Handbook for 1922-1923, p. 54.
3.7 Minutes of 1923 BU Assembly, in BU Handbook for 1923-1924, p. 38.
3i8 |i ( | | r ( | s | |,i|||() statement of Revenue and Expenditure for year ending 30th June 1923, in Handbook for 1923-1924, p. 66.
319 BU Trust Fund Statement of Revenue and Expenditure for year ending 30th June 1924, in Handbook for 1924-1925, p. 56.
at £3,584. Is. 9d., of which £2,735.13s. lOd. was spent in loans to the churches/2 But in 1926, for the first time since the inception of this Fund, the revenue was the lowest ever at
£150.14s. 6d, though its assets were £3,487.3s. lid. And like the previous years, most of these assets were in the form of loans (£3,349. Is. lOd.) to churches, with cash of only £138.2s. Id.
saved with the United Building Society and Standard Bank, respectively.321
As was the case with other funds which changed their names in the course of their history, this fund did well It was during the 1927 BU Assembly, the Assembly at which the Bantu Baptist Church (BBC) was inaugurated,322 that "the name of the Baptist Union Trust Fund [was] changed to the Baptist Union Sustentation and Trust Fund."3'3 One should remember that the first fund in the Baptist Church of South Africa was the Sustentation Fund. This fund was formed in 1874, three years prior to the formation of the BU, in 1877. It was the purpose of this fund to sustain ministers in the colonial frontier, therefore, the later addition of the phrase "sustentation" to the name of the BU Trust Fund resonates well with the history of these funds in the colonial context. Furthermore, 1927, the year when the phrase
"sustentation" was added onto the name and purpose of this fund, was the same year when through the BBC, the black ministers and churches in the Baptist Church were informed that they should develop themselves, although under "European guidance and stored experience."
The same Assembly also resolved that "Rev Ernest Baker in his capacity as President, the Rev Thomas Aitken in his capacity as Secretary, and Mr Henry Schmidt in his capacity as Treasurer, having been duly elected to their respective offices, be the Trustees of the Union in accordance with Rule VIII of the Constitution."324 By the close of 1927, the Fund's assets were £3,529.6s. lid., out of which £2,941.15s.9d. was in the shape of loans to churches, the
320 BU Trust Fund Statement of Revenue and Expenditure for year ending 30th June 1925, in Handbook for 1925-1926, p. 58.
321 BU Trust Fund Statement of Revenue and Expenditure for year ending 30th June 1926, in Handbook for 1926-1927, p. 39.
322 See Chapter 5.
323 Minutes of 1927 BU Assembly, in BU Handbook for 1927-1928, p. 33.
324 Ibid., p. 36. The rule read: "The President, the General Secretary, and the Treasurer of the Union, and their successors in office shall be the Trustees of the Baptist Union of South Africa in furtherance of, and in accordance with clauses 2, 4, and 9 in Rule IV." (Constitution of the Baptist Union of South Africa amended in
1921, in BU Handbook for 1920-1922, p. 51.). Sec also Volume Three (Appendices) for the same document.
BU and the Book Depot.325 Also in the same year, the fund - under the new name - listed in its financial statement the total value of those loans charged at 5% and those at 2'/2%; - a decision which was approved at the 1923 BU Assembly. This was the first step, of a number to follow, which were also meant to make the Fund "more available,"326 as shall later327 be observed. Also to be observed is how this Fund, in 1936, in a similar manner, encompassed the SABMS Trust Fund, the Transvaal Building Fund and the Rhodesian Fund.