What is now known as the heart of Southern Baptist missions and ministries to the world — the Cooperative Program (CP) — began with a crisis of inadequate support for critical endeavors in the 1920s.
Southern Baptists of that day were seeking to fulfill the dream articulated 80 years before at the founding of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).
In 1845, the convention was created for the purpose of “organizing a plan for eliciting, combining and directing the energies of the whole denomination in one sacred effort, for the propagation of the gospel.”
Yet Southern Baptists’ effort was being hampered by a lack of resources.
The number of denominational enterprises and institutions was growing. Each needed support. Each went about seeking the contributions of the congregations. Sunday after Sunday, representatives from seminaries and colleges, orphanages and hospitals, mission boards and benevolent organizations fanned out among the churches asking the faithful for help.
Some fared better than others. Some years were better than others. The gifts were distributed unevenly. The more popular, or perhaps the swifter, received a disproportionate share of the offerings. Other important ministries went begging.
Furthermore the costs of raising the money sometimes approached 50 percent of the proceeds. The churches were beleaguered by an endless stream of denominational representatives needing “pulpit time” to make their appeals.
On the whole, the results were discouraging. No one was being adequately supported.
The convention had a dream of “eliciting, combining and directing the energies of the whole denomination,” but it had no mechanism to make the dream come true.
Until 1925, when the SBC, meeting in Memphis, Tenn., adopted a recommendation from its Future Program Commission, chaired by Louisiana pastor M.E. Dodd, creating the “Co-Operative Program of Southern Baptists.”
There were ambitious expectations when the CP was first envisioned, and today it has grown into what is arguably one of the most expansive, efficient and effective methods of gathering and directing resources to fulfill the Great Commission.
As hoped, the Southern Baptist unified plan has overcome the unreliability of societal giving. Last year, Southern Baptists contributed more than $530 million through the CP, with more than $204 million forwarded to SBC national entities.
It was the third year in a row gifts have exceeded this threshold. Moreover the dependability of the CP has proven its value, especially now. Although other sources of support have been severely stricken during the current economic crisis (endowments have dropped in value and interest earned on investments has fallen), faithful giving has kept SBC entities within 1 percent of the projected resources needed to conduct their ministry assignments.
This consistency undergirds the full-time ministry of more than 5,500 international missionaries and the support in whole or in partnership with states of another 5,600-plus missionaries in the United States and its territories, Puerto Rico and Canada.
The CP provides the primary support for cooperative ministries among Southern Baptists at the national level and is supplemented by special offerings such as the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and Annie Armstrong Easter Offering to expand ministry efforts at home and abroad.
Last year, the CP assisted in the equipping of more than 16,000 men and women enrolled with the convention’s six seminaries — the largest evangelical seminary system in the world.
Likewise the CP has supported ministries like Southern Baptists’ efforts since 1990 to rehabilitate more than 13,000 homes, mostly in inner cities, and it is the reason Southern Baptists can react immediately in the midst of crises to offer relief to the hurting and sustain operations to the end of the recovery period and beyond.
Two of the most recognized ministries that benefit from Southern Baptists’ commitment to cooperation are disaster relief and world hunger relief. Southern Baptists support the third largest disaster relief organization behind the Red Cross and Salvation Army. Since 1974, Southern Baptists have contributed nearly a quarter of a billion dollars to alleviate poverty and hunger.
The very name helps define Southern Baptists as a people, and as a lifeline for Kingdom enterprise, the CP ensures we can minister to those in need and carry the good news of the gospel to the lost, at home and around the globe.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This article is adapted in part from the introduction of “One Sacred Effort: The Cooperative Program of Southern Baptists” by Chad Owen Brand and David E. Hankins. (BP)
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