I want to affirm the Cooperative Program Study Committee for their recommendations, especially the one that calls for our elected leadership to be selected from churches that give at least 10 percent of their undesignated receipts to the Cooperative Program. I agree with them that percentage matters.
I doubt seriously if many of our Southern Baptist churches would call a pastor or select a deacon who were not tithers. We consider tithing to be an indicator of spiritual maturity and leadership. We appreciate the giving our members do to worthy Christian causes beyond our churches, but we don’t consider that as a part of the tithe because it has been designated before the church body had the opportunity to give direction to it.
Most of the churches that we have selected leaders from over the last 25 years have not been churches that supported the Cooperative Program. They have given larger amounts of money than most of our churches are able to give, but, when all things are considered, they have not given their fair share to the Cooperative ministries of our denomination.
The uniqueness and strength of Southern Baptists is our commitment to cooperation. We believe that by working together we are more effective in the work of the Great Commission. The Cooperative Program is the vehicle that we use to support our Great Commission efforts. It is based on the belief that all of us should give out of an equal sacrifice. Ten percent out of a small church budget is the same sacrifice as 10 percent of the budget of the mega-church across town.
The young pastors who are coming on the scene today have very few denominational heroes from churches that give more than a “token amount” in support of the Cooperative Program. Is it any wonder that they, in turn, feel no loyalty to the CP?
I served as a home missionary for eight years. When I was commissioned, the commissioning service was held at the church where the president of the SBC was serving as pastor. That church gave 2 percent of its undesignated gifts to the CP that year, and that was twice the percentage it had averaged the previous several years.
If our elected leaders don’t believe in the Cooperative Program enough to support it with more that a “token percentage,” then why do we elect them to lead our Cooperative Program?
If the Cooperative Program is in trouble, it is our own fault. It is time to start electing leaders who lead by example. Percentage matters!
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