By Editor Bob Terry
A generation ago, critics of Southern Baptists charged that Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) leaders had to buy their way into positions of responsibility by giving through the Cooperative Program (CP). The charge usually came from so-called “independent” Baptists who seemed to resent the vast array of ministries made possible by Southern Baptists giving to missions, education and benevolent ministries through a single giving method — the CP.
In those days, Baptists leaders unapologetically urged churches to give at least 10 percent of their undesignated offerings to missions beyond the local setting through the CP. And most churches did. In 1980, for example, the average given by SBC-related churches through the CP was 10.7 percent of undesignated receipts.
The last 25 years have not been good for missions giving through the CP. The average now given by SBC-related churches is 6.6 percent. If that downward trend continues for another 25 years, then CP giving will be a minor consideration for all that Baptists do together, whether on a state or national level. Already special offerings have become the primary source of funding for both the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board. CP support has fallen to second place for each board.
In 2006, Baptist leaders attempted to stop the downward slide of CP giving by asking Southern Baptists to elect leaders who modeled strong CP support in their churches’ giving records. An ad hoc committee of state and national Baptist leaders selected by the SBC Executive Committee recommended that SBC officers come from churches that “give at least 10 percent of their undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program.”
SBC Executive Committee members balked at adopting the recommendation. They reportedly feared the standard would be used as a litmus test for denominational service. Rob Zinn of California, then chairman of the Executive Committee, said setting such a standard would intrude on local church autonomy because local churches should decide what to give through the CP.
In the past, the Executive Committee has willingly set standards for cooperating churches to meet. The announced reasoning was that the SBC was autonomous like churches. It could set standards that churches had to meet in order to participate in the national body. The backtracking on this issue can only be called “interesting.”
Messengers to the 2006 SBC annual meeting clearly said the CP giving record of a leader’s church is important. That was a major issue, perhaps the deciding issue, in the election of Frank Page as SBC president. Page’s church, First Baptist, Taylors, S.C., has a commendable giving record — over 12 percent. Other candidates did not.
At the same time, messengers elected a second vice president whose church gave just over 1 percent through the CP for the last year of record.
Behind the scenes at the meeting in Greensboro, N.C., another battle over CP giving was going on. The SBC Committee on Committees, the group that selects those who nominate members of the various boards of directors and trustees, agreed to use 3 percent giving through the CP as a minimum for any of its nominees. That decision caused several brouhahas. Outgoing SBC President Bobby Welch had to intervene at least once and assure some unhappy constituents that the committee was just doing what he had asked.
Since that annual meeting, the level of CP giving has been discussed from many platforms across the nation. Speakers have rightly declared that “Cooperative Program giving is not the only criteria for a leader.” But certainly CP giving is an important criteria. The people who govern and direct the work of Southern Baptists ought to be people who help pay the bills of the work committed to their care.
In Alabama, a similar discussion has been underway. Not too long ago, entity leaders received a letter from the committee on boards and commissions urging that individuals recommended for service on various boards and agencies come from churches that give at least 10 percent of undesignated receipts to missions through the CP.
It is interesting that Alabama Baptists talk about 10 percent CP support while the SBC talks about 3 percent.
Not all trustees and directors for state entities come from churches giving 10 percent or more through the CP. Alabama Baptists have no minimum giving criteria for membership and no minimum giving criteria for service. One could not buy his or her way into leadership a generation ago, despite what the critics charged, and one cannot buy one’s way into leadership today.
But Alabama Baptists believe in the CP. That is why the CP giving record of Alabama Baptist churches is almost 2 percent higher than the SBC average and why Alabama Baptists give almost a third more on a per capita basis than the SBC average. That is why Alabama Baptists allocate 42.3 percent of all undesignated receipts to CP causes beyond the state. That is why those who direct the work of Alabama Baptist entities support the CP.
CP giving is important because it remains the financial lifeline of all Baptists do together in our state, our nation and around the world.
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