It has a worldwide impact, stretching from Southern Baptist churches in all 50 states to mission fields across the globe, connecting church members with missionaries in fulfilling the Great Commission.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) – It has a worldwide impact, stretching from
Southern Baptist churches in all 50 states to mission fields across the
globe, connecting church members with missionaries in fulfilling the
Great Commission.
The Cooperative Program surpassed $200 million in gifts for national
causes for the first time in the Southern Baptist Convention’s history
during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to an Oct. 3
announcement by Morris H. Chapman, president of the SBC Executive
Committee.
And in the Gulf Coast states struck by Hurricane Katrina, Southern
Baptists showed resiliency and resolve in maintaining support for
Cooperative Program causes.
Chapman described the $200-million record as “a remarkable reminder
that so many are giving faithfully, Sunday after Sunday, through the
Cooperative Program. These multiple-upon-multiple sacrificial
contributions make it possible to achieve so much more together in
cooperative missions, ministries and theology than we could ever
accomplish without each other.
“Yet, so much more needs to be done, and I pray that Southern Baptists
around the nation will press even harder to support our unified efforts
through the Cooperative Program to reach the lost, minister to the
hurting and provide biblical leadership to our country and the world,”
Chapman continued.
Through their $200 million in gifts, Southern Baptists have supported
10,000-plus missionaries carrying the Gospel to remote regions
overseas, to America’s inner cities and an array of localities in
between.
Cooperative Program gifts opened doors for seminary training for a new
generation of missionaries and pastors and other workers called to
various facets of fulltime outreach. CP gifts also supported Southern
Baptists’ witness amid the nation’s battle over family values and
religious liberty. State Baptist conventions, meanwhile, also utilized
Cooperative Program gifts from the churches in carrying out the broad
scope of their evangelism and discipleship initiatives.
Jim Futral, executive director of the Mississippi Baptist Convention
Board, reported Cooperative Program giving in that state was 10.35
percent ahead of budget at the end of September, despite the immensity
of Hurricane Katrina’s impact.
“For years now, Mississippi has led the nation in per capita giving to
benevolent and charitable causes … [even though] our state also has
the lowest per capita income in the nation,” Futral observed.
“It seems as though we struggle with trying to know how to make money
but are blessed with the grace of giving money,” Futral said. If faced
with a choice between the two, I would rather be among folks with a
gracious heart.”
Describing the Cooperative Program as “a channel of hope, strength and
opportunity to continue doing Kingdom work,” Futral noted, “It is
because of the Cooperative Program that we have been able to respond
immediately and continually to the needs of our churches and
individuals across the coast, and at the same time continue to support
Southern Baptist missions around the world with no reductions at all.”