Cooperative Program giving trends upward as churches and state conventions show support

Local pastors in Southern Baptist churches, state conventions spread across the country and the president of the Southern Baptist Convention are declaring an increased confidence in the Cooperative Program. If the first quarter report of contributions to the SBC CP Allocation Budget is indicative of a trend, the ministries and missions Southern Baptists value stand to gain greater funding.

Year-to-date contributions received by the SBC Executive Committee for the Cooperative Program totaled $64,702,035 between October 2014 and January of this year. That represents an amount that is 4.97 percent above contributions over the same time period a year earlier.

The convention-adopted budget is distributed 50.41 percent to international missions through IMB, 22.79 percent to North American missions through NAMB, 22.16 percent to theological education, 2.99 percent to the SBC operating budget, and 1.65 percent to the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

A 2014 survey conducted by the SBC Executive Committee shows an increase in confidence among pastors that the Cooperative Program supports ministries and missions valued by their churches—moving up to 81 percent from 73 percent in a 2012 survey that asked the same questions of pastors.

On the state level, 23 state Baptist conventions have increased the portion of Cooperative Program receipts forwarded to Southern Baptist Convention missions and ministries this year, moving toward the goal of a 50/50 allocation between state convention causes and SBC causes. That demonstrates continuation of an upward trend spanning several years.

The Baptist Convention of Iowa and the Nevada Baptist Convention joined the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention as the only state conventions that forward half or more of CP receipts from local churches to the SBC without a “shared ministries” calculation. The SBTC, formed in 1998 with a 50/50 division from the start, moved to allocating 55 percent of undesignated receipts to the SBC in 2008.

SBC President Ronnie Floyd of Springdale, Ark., told a luncheon crowd at the SBTC Empower Conference that the story has never been better in terms of what is happening through giving to the Cooperative Program.

“We need to celebrate that we are reaching the unreached peoples internationally. We are strategically planting gospel churches nationally and internationally. We are preparing the next generation of pastors, missionaries and scholars effectively. We are extending compassion through hunger and disaster relief ministry dynamically. We are engaging the culture, always lifting high the cause of religious liberty globally.”

Floyd challenged those present to return to their churches, telling the story of what God is doing. “Give them the vision of reaching Texas, reaching America, reaching the world for Christ, and I’m telling you they’ll buy into that.”

Connection Community Church in Rowlett bought into the value of the Cooperative Program from the day the church was planted in November of 2010. Growing from 31 people meeting in a house to an average attendance of 475 to 500, Pastor Shane Pruitt sees the congregation as a child of the Cooperative Program.

“Somewhere some church in south Texas gave to the Cooperative Program and invested in these lives that are being changed here in Rowlett,” Pruitt said.

“It’s in the DNA of our church that we realize we are a beneficiary of CP giving and see the benefit of giving toward that so that the story can continue in other places in Texas and around the world.”