NASHVILLE (BP) – Year-to-date contributions to Southern Baptist national and international missions and ministries received by the SBC Executive Committee are 6.5 percent above the year-to-date SBC Cooperative Program Allocation Budget projection, and are 3.09 percent above contributions received during the same time frame last year, according to a news release from SBC Executive Committee President and Chief Executive Officer Frank S. Page.
“This report marks the second successive year that CP contributions have increased over the previous fiscal year’s mid-point and is the highest mid-year total since March 2010,” Page said. “We are surrounded by huge pockets of lostness across our nation and around the world. We praise the Lord for this continued rebound in support of our joint ministries through the Cooperative Program.”
The year-to-date total represents money received by the Executive Committee by the close of the last business day of March and includes receipts from state conventions, churches and individuals for distribution according to the 2015-16 SBC Cooperative Program Allocation Budget.
The $99,315,836.09 received by the Executive Committee for the first six months of the fiscal year, October 1 through March 31, for distribution through the Cooperative Program Allocation Budget represents 106.50 percent of the $93,250,000.00 year-to-date budgeted projection to support Southern Baptist ministries globally and across North America. The total is $2,978,751.71 or 3.09 percent more than the $96,337,084.38 received through the end of March 2015.
The Convention-adopted CP allocation budget is distributed 50.41 percent to international missions through IMB, 22.79 percent to North American missions through NAMB, 22.16 percent to theological education through the Convention’s six seminaries, 2.99 percent to the SBC operating budget, and 1.65 percent to the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
Designated giving of $129,122,798.17 for the same year-to-date period is 8.41 percent, or $10,015,458.01, above the $119,107,340.16 received at this point last year. March’s CP allocation receipts for SBC work totaled $16,022,276.52. Designated gifts received last month amounted to $31,711,140.04.