WHEN I was actively pursuing academic and theological training, I studied at two Southern Baptist colleges and a Southern Baptist seminary. I did additional study at two non-Baptist seminaries. I will always be grateful for those study and learning experiences as I listened to a number of students and professors from various denominational backgrounds.
As expected, I enrolled in classes and seminars with Southern Baptist professors and students, and also professors and students who were Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, Methodist, National Baptist, Assembly of God, Disciples of Christ, American Baptist, and a few others I have long since forgotten. Through those stimulating opportunities, I became more grateful than ever for my heritage as a South Carolina Baptist and a Southern Baptist, especially at the point of our long-standing commitment to evangelism, missions and ministry.
For a fact, Southern Baptists have never wavered in our history, and do not yet waver, when it comes to a basic conclusion that everyone, everywhere needs Jesus as Savior and Lord, and when it comes to heeding the call of the Lord Jesus to go throughout the world with the gospel, we stand up to be counted.
During my years of study, I discovered that the distinctive of Southern Baptists when it comes to the support of mission work is the Cooperative Program. Without question, the Cooperative Program, which has been our primary source of funding since 1925, sets us apart from any other denomination in the country, or even the world. I am certain that were it not for the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists would be but a whimper of what we have become. By the grace of God, the Cooperative Program has kept us focused on what matters the most, namely, helping people discover Jesus. I have heard non-Baptist denominational leaders observe that the Cooperative Program is the greatest funding source in the history of American Christianity.
For those among us who may not understand, the Cooperative Program is not a course of study or an educational conference. It is not some staid bureaucracy or a set of curricular materials. Rather, the Cooperative Program is the bedrock funding stream that provides support for everything we do as South Carolina Baptists and across the entire Southern Baptist Convention. For the local churches, nothing works better in fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20 and His strategy in Acts 1:8 for kingdom growth, than giving our monies through the channel of the Cooperative Program.
From the vantage point of our proven history, as the Cooperative Program goes, so goes Southern Baptists. Our disaster relief ministries, coordinated by the North American Mission Board in Atlanta, are remarkably effective. Without the Cooperative Program, that disaster relief work would be severely handicapped all over the land. When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita tore into Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, Southern Baptist disaster relief units were immediately present with lots and lots of trained workers to feed the hungry, clear roads, bring water and medical supplies, counsel shocked and grieving persons, and on and on.
Without the Cooperative Program to provide the infrastructure of our disaster relief ministries, our response would be so very limited. In addition, the marvelous new plan now in action by the International Mission Board to plant house churches by the thousands around the world, would be greatly weakened without the Cooperative Program.
For South Carolina Baptists and Southern Baptists to thrive and be obedient to the call of Jesus, a strong and vibrant Cooperative Program is an absolute must. It is hard to understand why so many of our people either take the Cooperative Program for granted, or deny its importance, or give it lip service at best. In particular, those persons who are our leaders either by election or appointment as officers, board and/or committee members, staff personnel, etc., are in the best positions of all to model and set the standard for Cooperative Program support. Our leaders should come from churches in the states and across the nation that provide a minimum of 10 percent of their undesignated monies for evangelism, missions, and ministry causes through the Cooperative Program. The very real question is, how can we say we are true South Carolina Baptists and Southern Baptists and do anything less?
I am not angry or upset with anyone over the Cooperative Program. I just believe in it, know that it works, and am so eager for us to do our very best in sharing Christ the Lord in “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost ends of the earth” in keeping with our calling to be a kingdom-focused people. The time is now for us to mean what we say when we claim that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life for everyone, everywhere. It is my sincere hope and prayer that our churches, as they plan their budgets for 2006, will include a generous percentage for the Cooperative Program.