In the last issue of The Baptist Courier, I expressed my support for the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force’s report, recommendations and challenges. I stated that two emphases in this document give me hope about the future of our denomination: a focus on theology, and a call to redirect more Cooperative Program funds to international missions and church planting. I explained the first emphasis in that article. I will focus on the second one here.
Fred StoneSince 1845, Southern Baptists have sought to be a Great Commission convention of churches. While our greatest concentration of churches remains in the South, we have shared the gospel and planted churches in all areas of our country and around the world. Now, 165 years later, we are a 16-million-member denomination, with more than 40,000 churches in the United States. Here in South Carolina, we have almost 700,000 total members in just over 2,100 South Carolina Baptist Convention churches.
While we must continue to make disciples in this country and state, the lostness of the world demands our attention. According to statistics in the GCRTF progress report, the United States comprises only 4.5 percent of the world’s population of 6.8 billion people. Of the world’s population, 4 billion people have little to no access to the gospel, and 1.5 billion have never had the opportunity of hearing the name of Jesus, the only name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). The point of that aspect of the report was well stated: “To the degree we grasp lostness will be the degree we are willing to do whatever is necessary to penetrate it.”
When we look at how Southern Baptists are currently giving and distributing Cooperative Program funds, it does not appear that we have embraced the reality of lostness on a global level. On average, Southern Baptist church members give 2.5 percent of their annual income through their local church or beyond. Local churches give an average of 6 percent of their budget offerings to the Cooperative Program. State conventions average giving 37 percent of those Cooperative Program gifts to the SBC, while keeping 63 percent. In South Carolina, we give slightly more than 40 percent to the SBC, while keeping just under 60 percent. These statistics reveal that at every level, Southern Baptists are keeping the majority of their resources too close to home.
I want to clearly express my support of the ministries and institutions of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. We are involved in a variety of ministry and mission efforts that are reaching people for Christ, training church leaders, equipping students with a Christian worldview, caring for those who cannot care for themselves, and meeting other needs in the name of Christ. We are rightly committed to making disciples in South Carolina and in our nation. At the same time, we must objectively keep a vision of the spiritual needs of the world before us if we are ever going to grasp lostness and then do whatever is necessary to penetrate it.
I believe such a vision would compel us to move toward the 50/50 split of Cooperative Program gifts between the state convention and the SBC, as recommended in the GCRTF report. However, such a move should be done gradually over several years in order to avoid negatively impacting our state convention’s ministries and institutions. If we all work together for God’s glory and the gospel’s advancement, we can have a smooth transitional process that will have positive results for both our state and national conventions.
I have long thought that such a move may provide positive motivation for churches to increase their giving to the Cooperative Program, especially those that are currently giving very little. In meetings with numerous young pastors this year, I have been encouraged that this is a real possibility. Many of them have expressed support for continuing to fund missions through the Cooperative Program. But they do not support keeping such a large percentage of those funds in the state. (This is not just a generational concern.) I believe they would be willing to lead their churches to increase support for the Cooperative Program if they saw the state convention increasing the percentage going to the SBC.
Objectivity also requires us to come to terms with the fact that the SBC is not healthy. We are a denomination in decline. In Ed Stetzer’s insightful article, “Will Southern Baptists Ignore the Ongoing Decline?” he points out that business as usual is not working. He says that it is time for us to do a serious self-examination as to whether how we make disciples is rooted in Scripture and delivering the gospel effectively to our mission field. (Stetzer’s article may be found at the website, betweenthetimes.com, along with other articles on the GCRTF report.)
Since what we are currently doing in SBC life is not working, as Stetzer’s article clearly reveals, it’s time for change. While the GCR report is not perfect, it charts a plan of action that will focus more of our resources on impacting lostness among unreached people groups around the world and in the major metropolitan areas of our country. This plan has not been readily received, however, because of the perception that it will negatively impact the Cooperative Program.
I have read this report and the section that deals with the Cooperative Program and Great Commission Giving several times. I do not see any devaluing of the Cooperative Program anywhere in the report. It actually does just the opposite, as these statements from the report point out: “At the center of our funding stands the Cooperative Program – We call upon Southern Baptists to honor and affirm the Cooperative Program as the most effective means of mobilizing our churches and extending our reach – We call upon all Southern Baptists to recommit to the Cooperative Program as the central and preferred conduit of Great Commission funding, without which we would be left with no unified and cooperative strategy and commitment to the Great Commission task.” I believe such affirmations and calls to support the Cooperative Program are intended to strengthen it, not weaken it.
Concern has also been expressed about the GCR report’s emphasis on celebrating all giving to SBC, state and associational causes under the umbrella term, “Great Commission Giving.” Some believe such recognition will undermine the Cooperative Program and encourage designated giving. The reality, however, is that there has always been designated giving. That is what Lottie Moon, Annie Armstrong, World Hunger and other special offerings are – designated gifts. Robert White, executive director of the Georgia Baptist Convention, is on the GCR Task Force. He supports this emphasis on Great Commission Giving, as well as keeping the Cooperative Program the core of our cooperative mission efforts. White states that this recommendation does not encourage churches to designate their mission offerings. Very much to the contrary, churches are encouraged to give their mission gifts through the Cooperative Program. (White’s article, “Open Door,” may be found on the official GCR website, pray4gcr.com.)
Dr. White makes an important observation and recommendation in his article that I think every Southern Baptist interested in the GCR should take to heart. He observes: “There is a lot of misinformation circulating, and no small amount of emotion wrapped up in current discussions.” He recommends: “Please read the report for yourself rather than accept someone’s interpretation of the report.” I strongly agree. Before we form opinions for or against this report, we need to make sure we have firsthand knowledge instead of just listening to sound bites and reading the commentaries of others.
I encourage all concerned Southern Baptists to prayerfully and objectively read and evaluate this report in light of the lost condition of the world and the clear evidence that our denomination is declining under our current system. While the GCRTF report, recommendations and challenges will not solve all of our problems, they do provide a plan of action to guide us to penetrate lostness and redirect the focus of our convention of churches on fulfilling our Lord’s Great Commission. Therefore, I hope you will join me at the SBC in Orlando to support the GCR Task Force’s recommendations.
– Stone is pastor of Pickens First Baptist Church and president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.