Louisville, USA - Kentucky's largest religious body, the Kentucky Baptist Convention, is cutting five full-time and 19 part-time positions as it shifts funding away from statewide ministries to the work of the national Southern Baptist Convention.
The Kentucky Baptist group also announced Monday that it was freezing salaries for those staying on the job. The cuts will take effect in September.
The state convention is an association of about 2,400 autonomous Baptist churches in the state that work with national Southern Baptists.
The Kentucky convention voted in November to increase its giving to the agencies of the national denomination, which is struggling to turn around declining rates of baptism and counter a long-developing shift in missions donations to the outreach work of local churches.
Bill Mackey, executive director of the state convention, said the job cuts and salary freeze will save about $486,000. The organization, based in Louisville, will retain 90 full and part-time positions.