MAGNOLIA MINDS: Why you should partner with your State Convention

By Andrew Chesteen

In our cooperative network of more than 40,000 churches, we have a vast variety of churches and pastors who partner together for missions and ministry fueled by our Cooperative Program (CP) within the theological guardrails of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. Southern Baptist (SBC) churches are small, large, and mega; rural, suburban, and inner-city; ethnic and multi-ethnic; traditional, contemporary, and blended; historically established and newly planted.

With such diversity in our Convention and with our emphasis on church autonomy, cooperation is dependent on the Spirit of God and the connections we form and share with other churches. The key point of connection that facilitates our cooperative mission is our State Convention partners. Churches and pastors who engage with their State Conventions benefit from this vital connection, and their engagement connects these churches and pastors to the mission impact of the SBC.

Connection to ministries

Engagement with our State Convention partners connects pastors and churches to cooperative ministries. In Mississippi, our Missions Mobilization team connects pastors and churches to missionaries through connection meetings and vision trips. Connection meetings allow several ministry leaders to meet with missionaries in local churches, and vision trips allow ministry leaders to go to the mission field in preparation for leading a mission team to that context.

Our Collegiate Ministries team facilitates the work of Baptist Student Unions at twenty-nine colleges and universities in our state. Pastors and churches are able to connect to local BSU directors to support their discipleship and evangelism ministries on these strategic mission fields. State Convention partners provide bridges between churches and mission fields for fruitful, Kingdom ministries.

Connection to resources

State Convention partners also connect pastors and churches to incredible resources tailored to assist the churches in their state and its various regions. My church benefitted tremendously from our State Convention’s Stewardship team who connected us to the training and resources we needed for a capital campaign last fall. We were able to lead a successful campaign because of the guidance of our State Convention partners.

Earlier this year, the northern half of Mississippi was devastated by the generational Ice Storm Fern. Our Mississippi Baptist Disaster Relief teams from the southern half of our state, as well as neighboring State Convention partners, deployed hundreds of workers to our region to help us recover and provided faithful Gospel witnesses in a time of great need.

Moreover, our State Convention partners connect our churches to resources for Sunday School, preaching, church security, children’s ministry, search committees, and a host of various resources that improve the ministries of our churches.

Connection to relationships

The most rewarding benefit of participation with our State Convention is the connection to relationships with pastors and churches across our state. By going to the annual meetings and other gatherings led by our State Convention partners, I have been able to form friendships with dozens of pastors. Knowing other ministers in my state has provided a source of encouragement, prayer, and counsel.

I look forward to attending meetings within our State Convention because I know I will see people who will give genuine encouragement — people who will ask about my church, my family, and my health with love and concern. These relationships have facilitated prayer partnerships that have blessed my ministry. Each Sunday morning, I receive a host of text messages from pastors across Mississippi filled with Scripture, words of encouragement, and assurances of prayer. I have also learned to lean on these brothers for counsel when facing various issues in our church or in my family. Our State Convention has blessed my life by connecting me to dozens of ministry friendships I could not have had otherwise.

Each SBC church and pastor has the autonomy to choose the extent to which they will cooperate with the Convention. My conviction is that the churches and pastors who choose to connect deeply with their State Convention partners will benefit more substantially and have a greater mission impact than churches and pastors who choose not to participate.

Connect by cooperative participation

The simplest way to connect with your State Convention partners is to attend your annual meeting each fall. Most pastors cannot make every training event or set aside several days for a missionary vision trip, but most pastors can set aside two or three days to attend the State Convention’s annual meeting and pastors’ conference. Two or three days per year can connect you and your church to transformational ministries, resources, and relationships. As your State Convention’s annual meeting approaches this fall, consider talking to your church leaders about sending you to these important meetings.

Connect by cooperative giving

All of the helpful resources provided by our State Convention partners are funded through the CP. Without our churches giving regularly and generously through the CP, the local, national, and international ministries of our State Conventions and the SBC are impossible. Consider deepening your connection to our cooperative work by making your church’s primary missions giving be the CP. By giving primarily through the CP, churches expand their capacity to advance God’s Kingdom and impact eternity!

Chesteen is pastor of First Church, New Albany, and president of the Mississippi Baptist Convention.