Being cooperative can grow the Kingdom
“Cooperative … to go for Kingdom work … missions offering, thank you Jesus! A sacrifice … I believe God is faithful”.
Those are the words on the note. Besides those words, written randomly on the lines of a small piece of paper, the teenaged girl had placed a “smiley face” sticker on the perforated page she had torn out of her notebook. I had spoken that night in her church about Cooperative Program missions and I was talking with another couple from the church when the teenager hurriedly stuck her hand in between us and handed me the notebook paper wrapped around a one dollar bill.
I wasn’t even sure what I was being handed. I instinctively took it from her hand. But I didn’t know who had given it to me. She almost thrust it at me. And quickly, she was gone. But when I saw what I was holding, I ran after the girl. I wanted to thank her for her missions gift. Luckily, I caught her. She was fast but I desperately wanted to get the story behind this gift. I said, “Thank you for this gift. I will give it to our Missouri Baptist Convention ‘money man’.” (Frankly, I didn’t want to have to explain the term controller.) So, I said, “I will give it to our Missouri Baptist Convention ‘money man.’ He will get it to the mission field.” A broad faced smile came upon her face. She simply said “I believe what you said and I love God.” And then she briskly walked away. That’s all of her story that I know. I did not get her name. But I will never forget the glow of hope on her face.
“Cooperative … to go for Kingdom work … missions offering, thank you Jesus! A sacrifice … I believe God is faithful”.
I did, indeed, give the one dollar bill to our MBC controller. That’s Jay Hughes, our convention “money man.” It’s good to have a controller who is a missionary at heart. He too was appreciative of the significance and the sacrifice of the gift.
The one dollar bill is already at work starting churches all over North America, specifically right here in the United States. That one dollar bill is currently serving in more than 1,200 nations and people groups around the world. That one dollar bill is being used by almost 10,500 Southern Baptist missionaries – 5,100 North American Mission Board (home) missionaries and 5,400 International Mission Board (foreign) missionaries. That one dollar bill is enabling more than 15,000 seminary students as they train to fulfill the ministry calling of God on their lives. That one dollar bill has been thrown into the Cooperative Program “hat” with other dollars from more than 42,000 Southern Baptist churches – and, together we are reaching the world for Christ, using that one dollar bill.
That incident may be as close as I will ever come to personally experiencing someone like the widow who gave her all in the Biblical story of the “widow’s mite.” Since that day, I have prayed many times, hoping that little teenaged girl, with a huge smile on her face and missions in her heart, has an idea of how effective her gift has become? On behalf of a devoted teenaged girl, I gave that one dollar bill to missions through the Cooperative Program. But I still have the note in my desk. I love the smiley face above the word “cooperative.” I smile every time I see it.
I am also pleased to know of your sacrificial gifts to missions and ministry through the Cooperative Program. I have been “out of the pastorate” just over three years. I remember well the financial pressures facing the local church. I know too of the various opportunities for missions and ministry – locally and abroad. I know that every Missouri Baptist church has choices and faces important decisions as to how the church’s money will be spent.
The benevolence ministry you perform in your local community is a vital ministry that requires funding. I pray that you will be enabled to continue that ministry and that as you distribute food and clothes to people in physical need, you will also offer spiritual food and robes of righteousness to people desperately in need of your Savior.
The dollars you spend on student ministries are some of the best dollars you will ever spend. The next generation needs to know of your concern for them … and they must know about your Savior. Large amounts of time and money spent on youth and collegiate programs in the local church are evidence of your passion for young people who must have Jesus to have life.
The short-term, in-state and out-of-state mission trips taken by your church are crucial to the people of Missouri and all the people of this great nation. America is in great need of the help and hope offered only by God’s people. I want you to keep doing all that God calls you to do in the area of local, statewide and nationwide missions. I know those mission trips require resources. I am praying that God will bless you abundantly with everything you need to reach the lost.
Money spent on church facilities is money invested in the future of the church. You must be good stewards of the dollars and the facilities that God has entrusted to you. Be very careful to take very good care of your church, as well as your professional church ministers. Your church staff should not be sacrificed in the name of missions.
You will need to budget your missions and ministry dollars carefully to include everything that God has called you to do … and I thank you for your partnership in the Gospel. But as you consider your missions dollar, will you also continue to be very aware of the necessity and the value of cooperative missions? Will you join other Missouri Baptist churches and help us reach this state, our nation and the world for Christ? More than 10,500 missionaries, 15,000+ seminary students, along with several dozen state denominational servants depend on your generosity to continue the ministries to which God has called us.
Most importantly, a world of lost people are depending on Missouri-Southern Baptists just like you to take the Gospel into all the world.
In the words of a young Missouri Baptist servant of God …“Cooperative … to go for Kingdom work …missions offering, thank you Jesus! A sacrifice … I believe God is faithful.” AMEN!