The Executive Committee reports that Cooperative Program receipts for the fiscal year just ended are 1.39% above last fiscal year. In dollars, this is $2,592,620.78 more than last year.
CP surpasses budget projection for fiscal year, Baptist Press reported yesterday.
My SBC friends, UP is UP and a little up is not down. How about at least an “Amen” for this? Hold the “Hallelujah” for something else.
We are living in a time of extended decline for our flagship denominational giving plan, the 90-year-old Cooperative Program, so an increase is a very good thing.
It doesn’t make a lot of difference (our International Mission Board, the one that has the $30+ million annual deficits, has received an additional $1.3 million) but it is encouraging. It should be noted that the increase is for the portion of CP receipts that are forwarded from the state conventions to the Executive Committee. The total of all CP revenues may or may not be up (it was down slightly as reported in the 2015 SBC Annual). We will not know until next year’s convention when that number is reported. The increase in the Executive Committee’s share of the CP is likely attributable to several states decreasing the percentage they keep and increasing the SBC percentage.
Just for context and a bit of irony you might revisit the last survey taken of SBC pastors concerning the Cooperative Program:
Survey: Cooperative Program draws pastors’ confidence
This article says, “The survey shows a continuing increase in confidence among pastors that the Cooperative Program supports ministries and missions valued by their churches…”
We pastors like the CP, express confidence in it, but the giving record demonstrates that we are mostly just hot air: our churches have given less and less for decades through the CP.
Maybe that will change. It did for our current president, Ronnie Floyd, and his church:
