The Columbia Baptist Conference was originally incorporated in 1935 as Columbia Swedish Baptist Conference, a Washingtonnonprofit corporation. It changed its name to Columbia Baptist Conference in 1953. The CBC serves approximately 85 Baptist General Conference churches in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana (the “CBC District”).
The CBC is one of thirteen districts of the Baptist General Conference. Any Baptist church within the CBC District with a statement of faith substantially similar to that of the CBC may become affiliated with the CBC upon approval by the CBC in annual session.
In 1968, a group of delegates to the annual meeting of the CBC held at Ballard Baptist Church of Seattle, Washington formed the Columbia Baptist Conference Foundation. The Foundation was not a separately incorporated entity. Instead, it functioned as a division of the CBC. The Foundation was established to provide a loan and revolving fund that would solicit investments from members and friends of CBC churches, pool the funds, and make them available to affiliated churches, to the CBC and to other CBC-affiliated organizations for property acquisition, new church construction, and other capital improvements.
For the first two years, available funds were meager. After the sale of Central Baptist
Church in downtownSeattle, the CBC Board of Trustees allocated $144,686.00 of the sale proceeds to the Foundation. As a result of this grant, the Foundation began to grow. The assets and outstanding loans of the Foundation began to increase dramatically as the CBC Board of Trustees managed the Foundation’s assets, and as members invested in CBC notes.
In the fall of 1994, the CBC Board of Trustees became concerned that assets of the Foundation were potentially at risk if a judgment were rendered against the CBC because of acts or omissions of its other divisions. The CBC Board of Trustees recommended that the Foundation assets and activities be spun out of the CBC into a new, separately incorporated entity named Columbia Conference Church Growth Fund. Based on this recommendation, the delegates at the CBC annual meeting held on May 13, 1995, approved the formation of the Columbia Conference Church Growth Fund (the “Fund”). The Fund was incorporated under the laws of the State ofWashingtonon May 25, 1995.
On January 1, 1996, the Fund assumed all functions of the Foundation, and the CBC transferred all of the Foundation’s assets and liabilities to the Fund, including all of the CBC liabilities under its outstanding promissory notes to investors. The terms of all such outstanding promissory notes have expired. The CBC has no liability or obligation for or related to any promissory notes issued by the Fund.
The Fund has a corporate existence separate and distinct from Converge Northwest, formerly known as CBC and its affiliated churches, ministries, and agencies. Under the above-described corporate structure, the debts and liabilities of the Fund are solely its debts and liabilities and are not guaranteed by the CBC, the Baptist General Conference, or any other part or affiliate of the CBC. The Fund does not guarantee the debts and liabilities of the CBC, the Baptist General Conference, or any of their affiliated churches, ministries or agencies
The Bylaws of the Fund provide that, upon dissolution of the Fund, the assets of the Fund will be distributed to churches that have been affiliated with the CBC for at least five years.
