Sharon and I came to Missouri with a deep sense of call. In our journeys across the state to visit our churches, we sensed the Lord was at work in Missouri Baptists. Part of my role is to promote, celebrate, and persuade people to capture in their minds the power of the Cooperative Program.
God wants to do something special with people who trust Him with their earthly possessions. He wants to do the powerful, not necessarily the ostentatious, through local churches. He wants to do something amazing through people and churches that give by faith, not just by sight.
Furthermore, we’re confident that the highest percent of dollars engaged in the support of missionaries in the state, nation, and world happens best cooperatively. The IMB Commissioning Service during the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting was indicative of the impact. Sixty-seven missionaries were commissioned, and only four could show their faces to the audience. The rest are to serve in “closed” nations. We have the honor of holding the rope for them every day through the Cooperative Program and, around Christmas time, with the Lottie Moon Offering for International Missions.
With this thought, drop the microphone. The greatest, most comprehensive mission outreach in Christian history is the sacred effort of Southern Baptists giving through the Cooperative Program.
While numbers are not the most important measurement of spiritual investment, financial trends illustrate important progress in the stewardship of resources the Lord has entrusted to us. Collectively, Missouri Baptists have been on a marked increase of resources flowing through the MBC to SBC ministries and our allocated MBC ministries.
According to the Sept. 30, 2022, fiscal year-end report by the SBC Executive Committee, Missouri Baptists gave $5,642,592 through the Cooperative Program. On top of that, Missouri Baptist churches designated $7,080,845 through the Lottie Moon Offering for International Missions, Annie Armstrong Offering for North America Missions, Hunger Relief Fund, and one of the 19 versions of Plan B (local churches make autonomous choices about their CP to the SBC).
These numbers are an improvement over 2011. The year I started as executive director (2011), the Cooperative Program and designated Great Commission dollars from Missouri Baptist churches to SBC ministries were lower. Now, there’s an increase, and we are grateful. Your state missionaries, who partner with the SBC to collect and distribute your church’s cooperative gifts, are honored by your trust, and we consider our role a sacred duty.
To attain that increase, some things have changed.
First, pastors and church leaders continue to re-dream the dream of cooperative ministry to reach our state, the heartland, and the nations with the gospel. A few years ago, we asked our churches to embrace the “1% Challenge” promoted by the SBC. That small increase makes an enormous impact.
Such an impact is needed for our missionary deployment and the theological education of our next generation of leaders. In Missouri, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has experienced miraculous growth because people are being called, and cooperative ministry is making it possible for students to gain first-class ministry preparation without loads of debt.
Our MBC life ministries – the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home and Baptist Homes and Healthcare Ministries – are touching lives as never before. From the womb to the tomb, our cooperating churches are doing ministry that far exceeds what any single church can do. All because your pastor and church leaders have the vision for gospel help, hope, and healing in the name of Jesus.
Second, we have great MBC educational institutions training tomorrow’s leaders from the perspective of a biblical worldview. The idea that it’s “cheaper” to send your high school grads to secular universities doesn’t really consider the cost. Your student is worthy of exploring the opportunities of a degree earned at one of our MBC universities. The stress of a culture in conflict with Christian convictions is only increasing. We must equip the next generation to live biblically and respond biblically to our hedonistic, secular world.
I want you to know how very grateful I am for every church that makes a step of faith to be engaged in cooperative ministry. I’m proud of the work our churches do together for the gospel.
I saw one of our pastors take a ladder and unfold it. He explained that, just like there are rungs on a ladder, there are steps in being faithful to God with our giving. On the bottom level are those who are just beginning the journey. They take the first step of being sporadic givers. Next, they can take a step of faith to become consistent givers, and then tithers. Tithers give faithfully and honorably to their local church, and yet they can take another step to become generous givers who know what it feels like to give cheerfully because the world’s obligations have no hold on them.
No matter where people are on the journey, they can always take another step of faith. Churches can do the same. When was the last time your church took a collective step of faith toward cooperative ministries? By God’s grace, it’s possible. Why? Because you’re making a difference, and, by God’s grace, we can collectively take another step of faith.