In 1925, God led Southern Baptists to establish the Cooperative Program as the means through which they would support mission ministry around the globe. Little could they have known how God would bless this glorious means of supporting Kingdom ministry.

Over the years, God has permitted the Cooperative Program to provide the support for the most far-reaching and effective missions outreach in the history of the church. The Cooperative Program supports more than 10,000 Southern Baptist missionary families serving throughout the world.

In the midst of this incredible blessing from the Lord, it has been amazing to me that some of our people and churches have adopted a CP Lite approach to supporting worldwide missions. They prefer to touch missions as lightly as possible by giving through the Cooperative Program barely enough to be recognized as a “cooperating church.”

They seem to satisfy their Great Commission calling by supporting their own missionary projects locally and including a few mission trips for international involvement. Some take an independent approach, preferring to support particular missionaries adopted by their congregation.

I understand that all of this is missions, but when a congregation becomes missional at its heart, it seeks the most effective way to reach the world for Christ.

For this lifelong Southern Baptist, nothing can touch the Cooperative Program for effectiveness in preaching and teaching the Gospel in all the world. As my good friend, and Florida executive director, John Sullivan, has said, “If Jesus has called us in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) to go into all the world and preach all of the Gospel to all of the world’s people, then how are we going to do that unless we have something like the Cooperative Program?

“If we did not have the Cooperative Program, we would have to come up with something like the Cooperative Program to fulfill the Great Commission.” John is absolutely right!

 

Over the years I have heard some misconceptions about the Cooperative Program that I would like to address:

• Too much Cooperative Program money is spent for administration and too little is used in mission work. Actually, in the Georgia Cooperative Program budget only 4.91% is used for administration.

• Folks are no longer willing to give to a “program.” Our people like to see where their money is going. I have been on numerous mission trips across the world and I can tell you that our missionaries welcome Southern Baptists to the mission field where you can see how your money is being used. As you go, though, be prepared to live in conditions extremely different from what you have here in the United States. Be prepared for danger and dysentery. Be prepared for unusual foods and odors. Be prepared to be abused and abhorred as a Christian and an American. I’m not sure that you really want to endure these things and more to see where your money is going. The problem underlying this remark is a lack of trust. You can trust Southern Baptists and you can trust the missionaries to treat every dollar as a sacred trust.

• Our church can accomplish as much by ourselves as we would by giving through the Cooperative Program. The effective synergy of cooperating with 40,000 Southern Baptist churches is unquestionable. We can do more together than could ever be accomplished by the sum total of all of our individual efforts. Last year, our Southern Baptist missionaries participated in witnessing to, leading to Christ and baptizing more than 600,000 new believers in one year! That can only happen as my church joins our resources with your church and all of the other Southern Baptist churches to reach the world for Christ.

• The Cooperative Program is the way we support the denomination. Actually, this is not a true statement. The Cooperative Program is the way your church connects with your Acts 1:8 responsibility. Through the Cooperative Program you literally become Christ’s witnesses “in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

 

Our churches are autonomous and express their commitment to Christ’s Great Commission as they will. My desire and prayer for every Georgia Baptist church is that during these critical days in the history of our world we would experience a true revival of compassion for our lost world and a passion to be obedient to the command of Christ in Acts 1:8.

The best way to get engaged with the world as a missional church is through the Cooperative Program. If I ever see a better way, I promise to shout it out all over this Convention.