EDITOR’S NOTE: Dr. Andy Chambers serves as provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs at Missouri Baptist University (MBU), as well as professor of Bible. He has taught more than 4,200 students during his time at MBU.
ST. LOUIS – I’ve been blessed by Cooperative Program (CP) ministries my entire life. Raised in a Missouri Baptist church, I learned at an early age that Baptists can accomplish more when we cooperate than when we work alone.
I learned to give joyfully each year to the Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong missions offerings. However, I was also taught that when churches commit to regular giving through CP, it enables kingdom ministries to plan for and carry out their missions more effectively.
Whether the ministry is church planting and revitalization, care for children and the elderly, or Christian education on the state level, or whether it’s missions and seminary education on a national level, regular giving through the Cooperative Program helps all of us do more effective work for the kingdom of God.
For me, the biggest blessing I’ve experienced through the Cooperative Program was the help it provided to attend seminary. I grew up in a middle-class home. My brother, sister, and I all took out student loans for college and graduate school. The three of us happened to attend Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary together. Southwestern is one of six seminaries supported by CP. What we didn’t understand was the degree to which CP gifts helped offset operating expenses at Southwestern and the other seminaries Southern Baptists support, making it so affordable for us.
Today, I serve at Missouri Baptist University, an entity of the Missouri Baptist Convention supported by the Cooperative Program. Every day I get to see firsthand how CP gifts support our work at MBU and help make it more affordable for students. The genius of the Cooperative Program, begun 100 years ago, is exceeded only by the reach and impact of the ministries it supports and the blessings of God on our work.
I pray for an even greater vision to dawn on Southern Baptists for what cooperation in kingdom ministries can accomplish. Thank you, Missouri Baptists, for supporting my training. Forty years into vocational ministry, I am still grateful.