MAGNOLIA MINDS: Cooperative Program is a masterpiece of cooperation
By Rick Blythe
Correspondent
Each year, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) sets aside a Sunday to promote the Cooperative Program (CP) across the convention. They do this to serve as a reminder that the Cooperative Program is our primary funding mechanism in Southern Baptist life to do missions and ministry together toward the goal of fulfilling the Great Commission.
Cooperative Program Sunday on Oct. 1 is a day for Southern Baptists to celebrate the greatest mission funding strategy of any denomination in the world. Any church, regardless of its size, can extend its ministry reach around the world when it gives through the Cooperative Program.
Specifically, the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board invests 61% of CP giving in Mississippi to support the Baptist Children’s Village, Collegiate Ministry, Disaster Relief efforts, Men’s and Women’s Ministries, Christian higher education, and much more.
The remaining 39% of CP giving from Mississippi churches is forwarded to the Southern Baptist Convention. Mississippi is but one of 41 State Conventions that gives CP dollars to the SBC to support the missionaries of Southern Baptists’ International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board, six seminaries, and ethics and religious liberty.
The Cooperative Program enables every giver and every local church to make an impact for Christ in Mississippi, North America, and worldwide. No single church, no matter how large, is big enough to send all the missionaries needed to fulfill the Great Commission.
On the other hand, no church is too small to make a difference in Kingdom work. Most believers will never be called to full-time vocational ministry but some are. Those who are not called are instructed to pray for and financially support those who are called.
A church that gives through the Cooperative Program also receives because of their giving. They receive resources for discipleship, stewardship, worship, evangelism, and more. They receive training for church leadership and Disaster Relief teams.
In addition, eligible church staff can receive church retirement and protection benefits. With so much to benefit the local church, it is incumbent on the pastor and other church leaders to put a “face” to the Cooperative Program and talk about it from the pulpit.
A church should be utilizing the prayer guides provided by the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board and pray for missionaries supported by our Cooperative Program gifts.*
Video resources are available that educate people on the importance of the Cooperative Program.** In addition, the Stewardship Department of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board has resources that will help any pastor and any church put a face to the Cooperative Program.***
Simply put, giving through the Cooperative Program is the most effective way to accomplish the ongoing task given to us by Jesus to GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES.
* https://www.imb.org/prayerpoints/
** https://www.sbc.net/missions/the-cooperative-program/
https://www.sbc.net/resource-library/52-sundays
***https://mbcb.org/offering/cooperative-program/
Blythe is stewardship at the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board. He may be contacted at rblythe@mbcb.org.
Opinions expressed on this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board, The Baptist Record, nor the publication’s Advisory Committee.