William Thornton is the intrepid SBC Plodder.
See how you do on this very simple, embarrassingly easy quiz on the Cooperative Program. I’ll make it multiple choice with a few true-false questions so that my SBC colleagues have a good chance of getting answers right by guessing.
1. The Cooperative Program is how many years old?
a. 168, it was started when the SBC was founded in 1845.
b. 88, it was started during the evolution controversies in 1925.
c. 58, it was started during the grand, boom years of SBC growth, 1955.
d. 34, it was started when the Conservative Resurgence began in 1979.
2. Who does most of the promotion for the Cooperative Program?
a. The SBC Executive Committee, since it is an umbrella funding plan best promoted through our national headquarters in Nashville.
b. Our two mission boards, North American and International, since they receive the largest SBC share of the revenues.
c. State conventions, since they collect the money.
d. Associations, since they are closest to the churches.
3. The largest share of Cooperative Program money goes to:
a. International Mission Board
b. North American Mission Board
c. State conventions
d. Executive Committee
4. The average percentage of a church’s undesignated offerings that is given through the Cooperative Program is:
a. 10.6
b. 8.2
c. 5.4
d. 2.7
5. Over the years, the Cooperative Program has:
a. Changed regularly as conditions have warranted
b. Been rather fixed but flexible enough to adjust to new church realities.
c. Been mostly rigid and unflexible.
d. Been extremely rigid with very little change in allocation formulas.
6. The percentages given by the churches of most SBC presidents over the last 34 years is:
a. 10% or more, considerably above the average and exemplary for the SBC
b. 8-10%, above average for SBC churches
c. 5-6%, about the SBC average
d. below 5%, less than the SBC average
7. True or False: The Cooperative Program is dying
8. True or False: Most SBC pastors are unhappy with the Cooperative Program
9. True or False: The Cooperative Program provides most of the funding for our SBC entities
10. True or False: Since the adoption of the CP, giving in the SBC has been cooperative as opposed to societal.
11. True or False: The Cooperative Program will continue to decline as a percentage of church offering plate dollars.
OK, let’s see how you do.
I think I got them all right. I’ll have to check the follow up article which will post here (likely tomorrow).
SBC former VPs are expected to get them all right.
A couple of the T/F questions are open to debate, after all.
NOt sure about ALL of the T/F qs. But believe I nailed the mul choice qs. 11 has got to be a trick q! And there are no a’s.
I would give the following answers:
1) The CP was founded by John the Baptist, but was only discovered at a later date!
2) The correct answer is local church pastors, not offered on William’s quiz.
3) Obvious. But still not enough!
4) woefully low
5) been everything from a sacred cow to a whipping boy.
6) Prefer not to answer on the grounds…
12. True or False: If Pastors lost their Housing Allowance income tax break, the financial reversal experienced by clergy all over the United States would likely have a somewhat negative impact upon Cooperative Program giving.
If we had tax reform where all special interests lost their tax breaks and where clergy lost their sacred income exclusion that allows for tax avoidance for ministers who live in multi-million dollar mansions, something Joe Sixpack (root beer drinker with mangy dog sleeping under his porch) cannot do with his single-wide, I doubt most clergy would object and lower flat rates would provide an impetus for charitable giving.
OK. I’ll take a stab at this.
1. b ; 2.c; 3.c; 4.c; 5.a; 6.d; 7.F; 8.T; 9.F; 10.T; 11.T
Many of my answers are guesses but they are not wild guesses.
Addenda:
Q 3: Most states keep between 40% and 60% of CP funds received from the churches — sending the rest to the entities. I think some entities receive more funds from other sources than the CP. Such as Lottie Moon for the IMB, and tuition and endowments for the seminaries. Note that Lifeway receives NO CP funds
Q7: I give my answer as TRUE because I think there is a gradual drift for churches to “directly fund” mission operations. So they don’t give via the CP conduit because state conventions on average keep half of CP funds before sending the money to the Exec committee for distribution to the agencies. However, I could be wrong on this. I could be over estimating “direct giving” by churches that bypasses the CP. Remember that Lottie and Annie giving is NOT CP.
Q10: I’d say it is really a mix of both methods. Money going to the mission agencies more or less is half directly from churches and half from CP.
Q11: I don’t know what the future of CP is. I think it is contingent upon how the state conventions adjust the percentage of CP funds they use for their own operations. My answer is just a guess.
I have a question regarding the definition of “societal” giving. Is it when a church gives directly to a mission agency or is it when a church gives directly to support a specific missionary appointed under the umbrella of a mission agency. Depending on the definition of “societal”, my answer to #10 may be wrong.