Spring is here and summer seems to be at the doorstep. As we journey together, there are some calendar markers I want our churches to be aware of:
Cooperative Program Day, April 22
This is a great day to celebrate the vast array of ministries your church supports through its giving to the Cooperative Program (CP).
Recently, one of our state missionaries was serving as interim pastor of an Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) church. He noted in the church’s financials that although the church was consistently giving 10 percent to missions, very little was showing up as giving through the Cooperative Program. Apparently at some point in the past, the church made a decision to designate their mission giving directly to various ministries (Missouri Baptist Children’s Home, International Mission Board, North American Mission Board, colleges, etc). Certainly, the church had every right to designate but needed to ask the question, “Is this the best way to support missions now and in the future?”
As the interim taught and counseled the church for several months, many of the members were beginning to capture the idea, the vision for simultaneously reaching their local community and the state and the world with the gospel. Along with the direct outreach projects they were doing, they were beginning to understand the value of cooperative giving.
As a result of a new appreciation for the value of cooperation, the church body moved from designating a large portion of its giving to giving all 10 percent through the Cooperative Program via the MBC.
This is a huge step for this church—for any church. It is a step of faith to take a large proportion of mission dollars and trust it to the MBC. The MBC takes those dollars and combines them with funds given in faith by other Missouri Baptist churches and allocates the funds to ministries that touch the lives of people and congregations (of all sizes) all over the state of Missouri and all across the globe.
Such giving takes great faith because you can’t always see the face or shake the hand of the missionary you support in a high-security nation or the student you just helped on a college campus. It takes faith to understand that your church’s faithfulness to the CP helped lead the 33 children to profess Christ through the ministry of our Missouri Baptist Children’s Home (MBCH).
You may not see the faces of the 60 babies born in 2011 to the girls your mission dollars helped through the Pregnancy Counseling and Supportive Services programs of MBCH. However, these little ones are alive today because your church believes a comprehensive missions strategy includes a children’s home, seminaries, International Missions, disaster relief, undergraduate education, church planting, leadership equipping, and more ministry touch points than an individual
or any one church could imagine.
Through the power of faithful cooperation, we are making a difference for the cause of Christ.
Watchmen on the Wall, April 19
As Missouri Baptists collaborate with other evangelicals for the purpose of articulating a biblical worldview in the public square, one very effective group is the Family Research Council (FRC). Launched by James Dobson almost two decades ago, the FRC’s primary goal is to assist pastors with resources and with information about navigating the “do’s and don’ts” of informing a local church with vital information about engagement in the public square. Some of their tools were developed in conjunction with the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.
On April 19, the FRC is hosting a “Watchmen on the Wall” training event in O’Fallon. Speakers include: Tony Perkins, President of FRC; Wayne Grudem, scholar theologian; Erik Stanley, Alliance Defense Fund; and Kenyn Cureton, Church Ministries for FRC. At the event, pastors will receive a Culture Impact Team Manual and a Voter Impact Toolkit.
There is no cost for the event but the pastors and/or spouses who wish to attend need to preregister (1.800.225.4008 or www.watchmanevents.org/regional-events) so organizers can adequately prepare for lunch and resources. Liberty Christian Church, 709 Crestview, is providing the facility for the event.
National Day of Prayer, May 3
The National Day of Prayer is scheduled for Thursday, May 3. It is an annual observance inviting people to pray for this nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress and was signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. We need a day set aside for personal repentance and prayer for our nation’s leaders and their families. This country was birthed in prayer and in reverence for the God of the Bible.
Shall our democracy fail because of our prayerlessness? May it not be said of us. Set aside a time of prayer on this day. Ask others to join you or join with others who may be organizing in your area for prayer on this day.