SBC Cooperative Program: A Sacred Effort And A Continuing Heritage
May 2009
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)—There was a crisis brewing in the 1920s. Resources were needed to get the work done. An inadequate collection and distribution system was impeding progress. Projects that had great potential were started, only to fail because supply could not keep pace with demand. People began to look for a solution. A visionary plan was suggested. Some said it was impossible—too much red tape, too many obstacles to overcome and too much political resistance.
For sure, the plan was complicated and risky. It would involve setting aside regional differences. It would require a willingness to work together. Intensive strategic planning, financial sacrifice and years of hard work would be necessary. But the struggle was worth it. It was a resounding success.
So it was that President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke at the celebration of this great success—“the completion of the greatest dam in the world, rising 726 feet above the bed-rock of the [Colorado] river, and altering the geography of a whole region.”
Through cooperation and sacrifice and labor, the vast unmanageable resources [of the Colorado River] were harnessed for strategic and significant achievement. The construction of the Hoover Dam was a great solution to a great problem!
There was another crisis brewing in the 1920s. It, too, was a problem of inadequate support for critical endeavors. A people called Southern Baptists were seeking to fulfill the dream they had articulated 80 years before at the founding of the Southern Baptist Convention. In 1845, they had created their convention 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 their effort was being hampered by 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 by Sunday, fundraisers 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 they had no mechanism to make the dream come true.
Until 1925. Then the Southern Baptist Convention, 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.” What the Hoover Dam became to agriculture and industry in the southwestern United States, the Cooperative Program would become to Southern Baptists.
A CONTINUING HERITAGE
There were ambitious expectations when the Cooperative Program (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 Baptists’ unified plan has overcome the unreliability of societal giving. Last year, Southern Baptists contributed more than $530 million through the Cooperative Program, with more than $204 million forwarded to SBC national entities, the third year in a row gifts have exceeded this threshold. Moreover, the dependability of the Cooperative Program 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 one percent of the projected resources needed to conduct their ministry assignments.
This consistency undergirds the fulltime 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 U.S. and its territories, Puerto Rico as well as Canada. 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 Cooperative Program 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, 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 (Southern Baptists support the third largest disaster relief organization behind the Red Cross and Salvation Army) and world hunger relief (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 Cooperative Program 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. But CP is the more than just the lifeblood of New Testament cooperation among Southern Baptists. The Cooperative Program is the heart of Southern Baptist missions and ministries to the world.
Subscribe to Updates