Year-to-date contributions through the Cooperative Program are running above budgeted goals for both the South Carolina Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention.
Through April 30, CP giving in South Carolina was 1.01 percent above budgeted needs for the year and 5.31 percent behind contributions received during the same time frame last year, according to figures released by Pam Carroll, the SCBC’s chief financial officer.
In the first four months of 2012, SCBC churches forwarded $9,596,248 toward a $28.5 million state CP budget. (For a detailed report on giving from SCBC churches in the first-quarter of 2012, visit www.scbaptist.org/givingreports.)
“I am grateful for the continued faithful giving of South Carolina Baptists,” said SCBC executive director-treasurer Jim Austin. “They have demonstrated, even during challenging economic times, that reaching people for Christ is a driving priority.
“[They] also continue to demonstrate through their giving that we as Baptists accomplish more together than we can separately.”
Nationally, CP giving through April was 5.19 percent above the year-to-date budgeted goal and 0.22 percent behind contributions from a year ago, according to a press release from SBC Executive Committee president and CEO Frank Page.
“This marks the fifth consecutive month that CP contributions to the missions and ministries of the SBC have shown an increase,” Page said. “Given the economic distress faced by so many of our churches and their members during the past four years, it is encouraging to see their continued willingness and the slow but steady improvement in their ability to provide financial support for the convention’s ministries.
“I rejoice in every gift. Each gift is significant, demonstrating once again the sacrificial spirit of Southern Baptists to support kingdom ministry.”
The Cooperative Program is a program of giving through which a local church is able to contribute to the various ministries of its state convention and to the various missions and ministries of the Southern Baptist Convention with a single contribution.