Through the first three months of 2015, giving from South Carolina Baptist churches through the Cooperative Program was nearly 8 percent below budgeted needs but slightly ahead of last year’s giving pace.

Through March 2015, churches forwarded $6,558,117.66 in CP funds to the South Carolina Baptist Convention, according to Pam Carroll, SCBC chief financial officer. That amount represented an increase of $34,932 over first-quarter giving in 2014.

At the national level, year-to-date contributions to Southern Baptist missions and ministries were 2.49 percent above the SBC Cooperative Program allocation budget goal.