This is the one question that kept coming up in yesterday’s conversation. One commentator even asked, “When did the CP start describing itself as mission work?” Here are a few observations:
- The domain www.cpmissions.net definitely gives that idea.
- The title of the website is “Cooperative Program (CP) Missions”
- The about page states, “a God-given partnership of missions support was conceived—The Cooperative Program.”
Missions Home & Abroad?
This was a second question that kept coming up. I wasn’t able to find an authoritative definition, but my instinct is to think cross-cultural is a key component. In my mind, missions is about sending the Gospel beyond where I can go and to people ouside of my own “ethnos.”
On the other hand, the SBC has always considered domestic and home church planting to belong under the banner of missions. Just consider the history of NAMB.
Even so, who will argue that 17% being sent international is the best use of our missions funds?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Tony,
I would encourage you to look into how that 17% is allocated among the IMB. Check and see how much stays stateside and how much is used overseas. You’ll be very surprised.
Alan Crosss last blog post..Consumerism, Pastoring, and the Slow Death of the American Church
Great discussion on the Cooperative Program and the division of funds between the state conventions and national entities. It’s encouraging when Baptists are taking an active interest in understanding the nuts and bolts of how their missions giving is being used here at home and around the world.
I may be able to shed light on some of the questions being asked. I serve as communications director for the Kentucky Baptist Convention and part of my work relates to helping to educate Kentucky Baptists about the Cooperative Program.
First, let me say that I am a big supporter of all Southern Baptist missions work, both on the national and international levels. I myself came to Christ through the witness of a wonderful Baptist missionary on the island of Okinawa.
On the issue of CP spending in the U.S. though, please remember that America is far from evangelized. The North American Mission Board estimates that as many as 224 million of North America’s 316 million population do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I think CP dollars spent in the states by NAMB and the state conventions are integral to our carrying out the Acts 1:8 mandate to simultaneously reach people locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Cooperative Program dollars that stay in the United States are also used to offset the tuition costs for future church leaders at Baptist colleges and seminaries, support children’s homes and many other vital ministries. These dollars also get used extensively in activities that are geared toward strengthening the local church. This is crucial because without strong, growing churches here at home providing prayer and financial report, the other national and international work will slowly decline.
One thing to keep in mind regarding the percentage divisions between the state and national entities is that – especially in the older state conventions – CP dollars are being used to help provide support for children’s homes, Baptist colleges, homes for the aging, etc. so the percentage that is actually being used by the state’s own Mission Board is actually much less than it might appear if you just look at the simple division.
For instance, in Kentucky this year, the CP budget distribution breaks down like this: 37.04% is sent to the SBC for distribution to the national entities, 36.54% is used by the state convention for its ministries and 26.42% is sent to Christian education and other Kentucky Baptist entities (three liberal arts colleges, a Bible college, a high school, our children’s home system, state newspaper, WMU, etc.)
Some of the newer conventions do not have these additional ministries and are therefore able to divide more equally between their state convention and the SBC. That said, however, most state conventions are working on increasing the percentage sent to SBC. That is certainly the case here in Kentucky.
In addition to these CP allocations, of course, Kentucky Baptists are also giving substantially to missions through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. This past year, Kentucky Baptists gave more than $4 million directly to IMB through the Lottie Moon offering and nearly $2 million through the Annie Armstrong offering, which nearly doubles the state’s contributions to the vital missions work of those two organizations.
(By the way, when we talk about the “state convention,” we are talking about all of us. Baptists in each state who serve on their various state mission boards develop all of the budget percentages and the messengers to the annual meetings approve all budgets. Most states are looking for people who desire to serve on the state Mission Board and on committees so I encourage anyone with a strong interest in this to explore how they can be actively involved in their own state convention.)
None of this is to say that churches, state conventions and our national agencies can’t make improvements or be more efficient. Certainly, all can. I just see CP, while imperfect, as one of the best tools we have for reaching our world (both here at home and abroad).
I apologize for such a long post. I didn’t intend for it to be when I started. If anyone has a question that you think I can answer I will be glad to do so. The information about the Cooperative Program budget here in Kentucky can be found on our Web site at http://www.kybaptist.org/cpmissions. I think most state conventions include this information on their sites as well so it’s pretty easy to get whatever information you need about your CP giving. Here in Kentucky, we can even print out a breakdown that shows your church’s specific giving record and the exact dollars that you give to each Convention entity. It’s available on request.
Also, for any Kentucky Baptists out there reading this, we’d love to have you come visit your Kentucky Baptist Building and meet the people here who are responsible for managing missions giving. I think you will be pleased by the good stewardship. We have tremendously dedicated and highly professional state servants who are stretching your CP dollars quite a long way and are happy to share about that.
@ Robert: Thanks for dropping in and sharing information. I would say church strengthening and social ministries are definitely not missions. They may be good works and important for Southern Baptists historically, but it is hard to define mission broadly enough to cover all the causes you mentioned.
My concern here is that the real Great Commission is suffering when we call these other denominational causes “missions.”
I do appreciate your input here and willingness to engage on the question.
Robert,
Glad you joined the discussion.
I miss seeing all you guys at the KBC now that both my feet are firmly planted in Indiana.
Tony,
I tend to agree with Robert that the CP generally takes an Acts 1:8 approach to the GC. Also, I think the Lifeway survey reflects the view that Baptist cooperation includes both missions and social ministry (as well as theological education, etc).
I agree with you, however, that all that the CP does is not rightly called “missions.” Whether or not calling CP ministries “missions” is misleading (or deceptive) would depend on how Southern Baptists understand the word missions. I would love to see a study that examined Baptist’s understanding of the word.
In any case, it may be more profitable at this point to discuss whether or not enough money goes to foreign missions in comparison to the other cooperative works (no, in my opinion) . When evaluating this, I would agree with Robert that we need to consider Lottie Moon and not just our budgeted allocations.
Blessings,
Todd
Todd Benkerts last blog post..Highlights from our State Convention
So the Religious and Ethics commission = missions… really? Seminaries = missions… really? Lifeway & Guidestone = missions… really? That is to say Tebow wearing John 3:16 under his eyes = missions or my being a Christian and working out at the gym = missions, neither of which = missions.
If the CP = missions, we need to bring a hatchet out and make in mean missions! Please do not take this as me being against our seminaries, the commission, lifeway or guidestone, because I am not… but those works and many other things the CP funds does not = missions.
With that being said, I will continue to support the CP because it is accomplishing works that can only be done through partnership.
Tension
On the one hand, social ministry is the best strategy for evangelism because the most ideal context to share the gospel message with a people group is after or while your loving them in a concrete way that they can appreciate as true love and compassion. The gospel shines the brightest on those who lay their life down in good deeds. Like Jesus did.
On the other hand, because of liberalism, evangelicals tend to be apprehensive about social work because they fear it might take on a life of its own (as it has in many cases) and make it easy for people to forget that the great commission demands proclamation of the gospel and all that Jesus taught.
This makes me angry that liberalism has apparently, for so many of us, ruined such a perfect union of social work and evangelism.
I would personally still include social work done by evangelistic Christians as missions, because I trust that through the social work, they will build relationships and the gospel will shine bright, and as I said before, social work is the best strategy for evangelism.
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