JEFFERSON CITY – What do your tithes and offerings do? Through the Cooperative Program (CP), they start new churches, feed the hungry, advance Christian education, provide disaster relief, promote evangelism, keep more than 10,000 full-time missionaries in the field … and much more.
April 14 is Cooperative Program Day for the 45,000 churches of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). It is a day to celebrate the unique funding process that Southern Baptists have used since 1925 to support missions and evangelism around the world, according to Rob Phillips, who coordinates CP for the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC).
“The Cooperative Program is the envy of the evangelical world,” he said. “When Southern Baptists give through CP, our faithful stewardship has a global impact. By pooling financial resources, Southern Baptists are able to do so much more together than we ever could alone. CP is uniquely Southern Baptist. It’s smart. It’s effective. And it changes lives.”
The CP begins with you – your tithes and offerings to the local church. Your church, in turn, gives part of its annual budget to the MBC.
The MBC then invests about 60 cents of each dollar in Missouri missions and sends the rest to the SBC, where CP contributions from 45,000 other SBC churches are pooled to support 10,000 missionaries, six seminaries, ethics and religious liberty, and other causes.
“The Cooperative Program is the fuel for mission efforts in Missouri and around the world,” Phillips said. “With giving through CP up over last year at this time, Missouri Baptists are showing that they get it – they see the value of faithful giving and the benefits of working cooperatively to accomplish the Great Commission.”
Pastors also may want to teach on stewardship, missions, or evangelism – all of which are enhanced through the cooperative efforts of Missouri Baptists.