Re-exploring Our Cooperative Relationship

August 2006

I hesitate to give a history lesson. But, the teacher in me sometimes overcomes my reluctance. During the past few months, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has begun to re-explore our cooperative relationship. I have followed that discussion through Baptist Press and through listening to folks from our KNCSB churches.

The thing that I have noticed is that the knowledge of the history of our cooperation has become fuzzy with many people. How and why do we cooperate together? Is it important? Where do we stand today?

Cooperation among Baptists has been our way almost as long as there have been Baptist churches (apologies to those who believe that there were Baptist churches all the way back to the time of John the Baptist). The first Baptist church to refer to itself in that way was started at the beginning of the seventeenth century in England.

Within the first two decades of the existence of Baptist churches, these churches began to organize what became the Baptist “association.” Baptist churches joined together to accomplish what they could not accomplish alone. J. B. Gambrell, a Baptist leader of an earlier period, said, “By a wise organization of forces, more people are reached, more money elicited, and by an intelligent direction, it accomplishes more good.”

National and state conventions were later organized as Baptist churches migrated to the New World. Again, the organizations were created in order to allow churches to accomplish more together than they could do separately. As Baptists began to pursue home and foreign missions, two styles of cooperation emerged, the societal and the associational. The societal called for the creation of independent mission-sending bodies while the association saw these bodies as extensions of the local church.

The SBC was founded on the associational model which was widely adhered to in the South. Home and foreign mission boards were founded and we have been in the missions business using the associational method since then.

In 1925, the SBC developed the Cooperative Program (CP). Through the funding provided by the CP we have had the resources to launch the greatest mission force in the history of the church and we have funded seminaries to train our ministers in an economical fashion.

Today we are seeing a resurgence of the societal method among Southern Baptists. CP giving is declining. As noted in an earlier editorial, the percentage of CP giving is in a twenty-year decline.  Churches are expressing greater and greater emphasis on doing their missions programs independently of our partnership relationships.

At the same time we see a growing movement away from the cooperative entities that have bound us together. Some view associations as irrelevant, especially large churches who don’t directly benefit from its ministry. Others see state conventions as an unnecessary appendage. Still others believe that the national convention has become too big and is out of touch with the churches.

We are beginning to resemble Independent Baptists rather than Southern Baptists. I was especially interested in the arguments that were put forward for Ronnie Floyd’s candidacy for the SBC presidency. His church’s independent missions programs were touted as an excuse for not strongly supporting CP. But Southern Baptists have always been organized to work together through our home (North American Mission Board) and foreign (International Mission Board) agencies to accomplish together the Great Commission.

Where does that leave us? In my opinion, it leaves us in a very dangerous place. It may be that our associations and conventions have not been all that they should be. But, I am convinced that we will make the greatest kingdom impact by following the path created by our Baptist forefathers. I believe that the associational method, with churches working cooperatively through local associations, state conventions and the SBC, is still the best structure to send the gospel to the ends of the earth.

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