The Cooperative Program allocation budget ended its fiscal year with its first increase since 2007, a moment that Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee president and CEO Frank Page said was a “cause for joy” in light of economic hard times.
The Cooperative Program allocation budget finished its Oct. 1-Sept. 30 fiscal year with receipts up 0.06 percent and combined CP and designated giving for the year up 0.17 percent, although total receipts were 3.98 percent below budget, according to Page.
“I … want to say thank you to the many pastors who are leading their churches to significantly turn around their Cooperative Program giving,” said Page.
The total includes receipts from state conventions and fellowships, churches and individuals for distribution according to the 2010-11 SBC Cooperative Program allocation budget.
The Cooperative Program is Southern Baptists’ method of supporting missions and ministries of state conventions and the Southern Baptist Convention.
Page applauded the increase in light of 2010’s large decrease in receipts and the badly depressed economic conditions churches are facing. The CP allocation budget was down 4 percent last year.
A total of $191,878,645 in CP gifts was received by the Southern Baptist Convention during the fiscal year from Oct. 1, 2010, through Sept. 30, 2011- up by $115,492 (0.06 percent) from the previous fiscal year’s $191,7 63,152.
During the 2010-11 fiscal year, an additional $191,878,065.75 in designated gifts brought the fiscal year’s overall giving for national and international missions and ministry to spread the gospel to $383,756,710, or 0.17 percent above the previous year’s $383,087,678 combined figure.