GBC asks task force to strengthen CP wording

DULUTH, Ga. — “Don’t mess with the Cooperative Program” (CP) is the message the Georgia Baptist Convention’s (GBC) executive committee is sending to the Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) Task Force, according to a report by The Christian Index, the state convention’s newsjournal.

The GBC executive committee unanimously adopted a request March 16 that the task force strengthen its language assuring that the CP will remain the dominant funding channel for Southern Baptist causes, The Index reported.

The state convention, where the denomination was founded in 1845, additionally asked the GCR task force to “formally encourage and challenge local churches specifically to increase their support and sacrificial giving through the Cooperative Program.”

The 483-word document, with three subsections, was approved by the Georgia convention’s executive committee during its regular session March 16. It thus becomes the first state convention to address the 32-page report by the task force.

Executive committee members fear a watering down of the CP if “Cooperative Program Giving” is regarded as only equal to designated giving. The Georgia document states its concern that “wide application of the phrase ‘Great Commission Giving’ for monies given through the Cooperative Program as well as to designated causes may cause some Baptists to surmise wrongly that the Cooperative Program is merely a subset of giving instead of the primary means of missions giving for Southern Baptists.”