October is Cooperative Program month among Southern Baptists. It is a time when members celebrate the principles of cooperation that allow Baptists to work together even though we live in all 50 states, organize ourselves into 41 independent state conventions and fellowships and worship in more than 43,000 autonomous churches.
Still Southern Baptists join hands to “cooperate” for the purpose of accomplishing a “program.” On a national level, that “program” is primarily about missions and evangelism. Half of the national Cooperative Program receipts go to missions and evangelism around the world through the work of the International Mission Board.
Another 22.79 percent supports missions and evangelism efforts in the United States. The North American Mission Board leads the national outreach effort but works cooperatively with state conventions to accomplish agreed-upon goals.
Ministerial training receives 21.4 percent of the national budget. That amount is divided among the six Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) related seminaries according to an enrollment driven formula.
The remaining 5.57 percent is divided among the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the Annuity Board and the SBC operating budget.
This October Southern Baptists also will celebrate topping their national Cooperative Program budget goal with record receipts. During the 1999-2000 SBC budget year that ended Sept. 30, 2000, Southern Baptists gave $178,298,879.52 to national causes through the Cooperative Program.
The record giving level tops budget requirements by 11.7 percent and surpasses last year’s giving level by 6.3 percent.
The difference between budget totals and last year’s receipts reflects the budget-making process. The annual SBC operating budget is always the amount of receipts from the last complete year of record. That means the 1999-2000 budget was based on receipts from the 1997-98 year. The 1998-99 year did not end until four months after the June 1999 meeting in which the coming year’s budget was adopted.
SBC Executive Committee president Morris Chapman declared, “We can rejoice together because of God’s goodness as we celebrate the seventh consecutive year of record giving through the Cooperative Program.”
The record offering total provided SBC entities $18,715,136.52 more than was called for in the annual budget. That amount of money was divided according to operating budget percentages. Trustees and directors will now be able to determine how the unbudgeted funds can best benefit the work of their respective entities.
Also, this year’s receipts are $10,302,305 more than the entities received last year. A growth rate of 6.3 percent in national Cooperative Program receipts at a time that the economy is growing at a rate of about 3 percent, evidences real growth in terms of buying power.
Alabama Baptists played a vital part in the record receipts. According to SBC statistics, Alabama Baptists contributed $16,566,744.02 toward the national Cooperative Program budget during the 1999-2000 budget year. That is an increase of $1,115,916 over the previous year.
More importantly, according to SBC figures, the percentage of growth in giving from Alabama Baptists surpassed the rate of growth for the SBC as a whole. The percentage of growth in Alabama Baptists giving to the national Cooperative Program was 7.22 percent, almost a full percentage point greater than the 6.3 reported by SBC.
Obviously, Alabama Baptists believe in the principles of the Cooperative Program. State convention executive director Rick Lance correctly points out that no other state gives a larger portion of its undesignated receipts to causes outside state boundaries than Alabama. Baptists of this state play an essential role in helping men and women, boys and girls across the nation and around the world learn about Jesus Christ.
As churches prepare their local budgets for the coming year, they will want to remember the Cooperative Program. Churches will want to review the principles of “cooperation” and examine the “program” which the funds support. The Cooperative Program remains Southern Baptists’ primary channel of missions giving.
Seven years of record giving in the national portion of the Cooperative Program is a victory worth celebrating. It is especially worth celebrating at this critical time of the year when churches are making decisions that will determine whether next year will be the eighth consecutive year of record missions giving.
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