JEFFERSON CITY—The wonder of the Cooperative Program (CP), which emboldens Southern Baptists to pursue the Great Commission, never ceases to amaze Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) Executive Director John Yeats.
“The Cooperative Program is the greatest, most effective multi-strategy, multi-generational mission strategy in Christian history,” Yeats said. “It is a treasure the Lord entrusted to us. We must engage in entrepreneurial thinking to educate new generations and to promote the impact of cooperative missions and ministries for the glory of the Lord.
“We must become passionate about the value of cooperation. It is one of the only ways I know of to push back the cultural influence of ‘ecclesiastical individualism’ that too often leads over the span of a generation to a very lonely, ego-centric way of ministry.”
The CP is known as the one thing that holds Southern Baptists together.
“The Lord uses our support of CP to put feet and faces on the state, national and international mission field,” Yeats said. “It is what He uses to equip the next generation of leaders through our universities and seminaries. It is what He uses to present our biblical worldview to state and national public policy makers. It is what the Master uses to train and coordinate thousands of volunteers to respond to disasters.”
Stories about this funding mechanism are becoming more frequent in The Pathway.
“We want to celebrate what our local churches are doing through the CP,” Yeats said. “We also want to demonstrate the impact that they make for the cause of Christ by showing how the dollars they give flow through their local church to state missions and ministries and on to Southern Baptist missions and ministries.
“Every level of mission support is valuable. Every gift to the local church is valuable and is connected to reaching lost people in our state, this nation and the world.”