Year-to-date contributions through the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program are 4.31 percent above the same timeframe in 2005.
As of June 30, 2006, the year-to-date total of $151,274,474 for Cooperative Program Missions is $6,257,350 above the $145,017,123 received at the same point in 2005. For the month, CP receipts of $17,182,506 were 36.86 percent, or $4,627,305, above the $12,555,200 received in June 2005.
The 4.31 percent year-to-date increase is the largest growth trend seen at this point in the year during this decade.
Southern Baptists’ designated giving of $172,936,738 for the year-to-date is 1.19 percent, or $2,038,720, above gifts of $170,898,017 received at this point last year. The $25,155,142 in designated gifts received last month is $11,615,755 above the $13,539,386 received in June 2005, an increase of 85.79 percent.
Contributions to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering fueled the upsurge in designated gifts, with receipts of $21,760,758 for the month, compared to the $11,698,464 received in May. Year-to-date giving to the offering reached $45,007,315, exceeding by $1,305,514, or 2.99 percent, the $43,701,801 received at the same point last year.
SBC Executive Committee president and CEO Morris Chapman expressed gratitude to Southern Baptists for their faithfulness and sacrifice.
“The recent upsurge in Cooperative Program giving demonstrates once again the incredible heart of Southern Baptists to carry forward the greatest missionary efforts since the early church,” Chapman said in a statement to Baptist Press. “Also, in spite of recent uncertainty, Southern Baptists gave generously to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering to support our efforts to reach North America with the gospel.
“It is not only a tremendous encouragement to witness the incredible consistency of Southern Baptists in their support for the Cooperative Program,” he added, “but also to see the current increase in giving toward North American missions.”
For the SBC Cooperative Program allocation budget, the year-to-date total of $151,274,474 is 106.23 percent of the $142,398,941 budget, or $8,875,533 more to support Southern Baptist ministries globally and across North America.
It is separate from the Southern Baptist disaster relief fund, of which 100 percent of monies go to aid the needy in the general public.
The Cooperative Program total includes receipts from individuals, churches, state conventions and fellowships for distribution according to the 2005-06 Cooperative Program allocation budget.
Designated contributions include the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions, Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund, and other special gifts.
State and regional conventions retain a portion of church contributions to the Southern Baptist Convention Cooperative Program to support work in their respective areas and forward a percentage to Southern Baptist national and international causes. The percentage of distribution is at the discretion of each state or regional convention.