The Cooperative Program is political.
This one fact, more than any other, has hindered its growth. I think our distaste for the political aspects of the CP is wrongful on our part. I’m writing to convince you of that.
It is undeniably true that denominational politics can become evil. This is equally true, however, for anything that sinful human beings touch. If you tell me that you don’t like corrupt politics, that makes me admire you. If you tell me that you don’t like politics at all, I consider you to be a part of the problem rather than a part of the solution. Whether your disavowal of politics represents your naiveté or your demagoguery I’ll leave for you to sort out.
Politics is simply this: The system by which multiple people decide what to do. The “Cooperative” in “Cooperative Program” is simply another word for politics.
What is the alternative to politics? It is neither more nor less than, “I will not be bothered by the opinions of others. I will not negotiate. I will not build consensus. I will not labor toward agreement. Rather, having the means to do what I wish without regard for others, I choose fiat dictatorship over my smaller, less effective realm rather than politics by which we accomplish something greater together.” The demagogue will rapidly embrace this approach and dress up his aloofness from politics as something noble.
The naïve person declares that he dislikes politics and then replaces one political system with another. He dumps the Cooperative Program and builds a network in its place. His new politics may be better—more tranquil, less corrupt—if for no other reason by virtue of its being newer. Eventually, however, his network will face a decision that will reveal profound disagreement among its members. The descent into politics is inexorable for groups of human beings trying to work together.
I want to offer another idea: POLITICS IS LOVE.
Or, at the very least, love is political. It is political for a number of reasons.
- Loving sister churches disposes us to work in cooperation with them. Love relishes the community of politics over the autonomy of independence.
- When we see ways to improve the work, loving sister churches motivates us to accomplish the improvements not for ourselves alone, but for all of the churches. Love embraces the interdependence of politics.
- Love is patient, we are reminded. Loving sister churches means giving them time and space to consider our proposed improvements. Love endures the process of politics.
- Love is not arrogant. It acknowledges that sister churches might educate us, rather than vice-versa. Love commits to the give-and-take of politics.
When we love our sister churches and love the work of the gospel, we will deign to be involved with them in decision-making. At its essence this is what the Cooperative Program is. That’s why the Cooperative Program cannot be identified with the status quo. The Cooperative Program is not the end decision; it is the process by which we arrived at it. Most serious arguments against the Cooperative Program boil down to impatience or indifference with regard to sister churches, in my opinion. To reject the Cooperative Program is not merely to say, “The budget doesn’t reflect the right priorities.” Rather, it is to say, “The budget doesn’t reflect MY priorities, and I reject the system by which I should try to lead you to see why.”
Don’t eschew politics. Embrace love instead. Get involved in the process. Enter dialogue with sister churches and work to make the Cooperative Program better and stronger.
By the way, Paul Chitwood is also writing today about the importance of Baptist polity and process.
Yesterdays revolutionary is today’s status quo. It has always been that way. The CP itself was not immediately agreed upon or seen as the future when it was introduced. And over time it has been tweaked and changed and challenged, and will continue to be in the future. I wrote about the history of the CP introduction recently on my blog. To the point, CP is political as you defined it. Everyone is involved in politics, even those who say they are not. No stance is a stance! Hopefully dialogue will move us towards each other and not apart as… Read more »
That’s right Dr. Barber. Cooperation means compromise [to use your words consensus / negotiation]. Especially as it relates to the outworking of how we serve God we think that compromise is a dirty word. So we each take the “high ground” in defending the priorities we believe God is leading us to support.
But at least each one of us is as pure as the wind driven snow. That’s the most important thing, right? Even if the sum total of our work is minimized by balkanization.
“The “Cooperative” in “Cooperative Program” is simply another word for politics.” Yep, so true … but it sure would be nice if “Cooperative” in “Cooperative Program” implied unity instead. It once did. Local churches rallied as one man to support evangelism and missions at home and on international fields. Now, many SBC churches are beginning to look through theo-political glasses to support or bypass CP giving. A sad state of affairs when the CP is held hostage to our wrangling with each other. God’s blessing falls on unity, not division – the CP needs to be blessed again. IF my… Read more »
Max, take it from a guy who has given way too many hours to the study of Southern Baptist History: The moment you are contemplating when “Cooperative” didn’t mean “politics” is a moment that never took place.
Yes, I understand that to be the case at the national SBC level. My perspective re: past CP “unity” was when my family were members of a large SBC association of churches (in the 1970s) that really did work together to promote the importance of CP’s grand scale of evangelism and mission. Church members rallied to the cause and dug deep into their pockets. The “we can make a difference” took hold! It was a blessing to be naive back then and not aware of top-level political maneuverings and elephants in the room.
It is the attempted point of my post to argue that: 1. The experience you describe actually IS politics. If you “did work together to promote the importance of CP’s grand scale of evangelism and mission,” then some people led that, some people followed that, and groups made decisions about how to do so. 2. Politics does NOT equal “rancor and unsavory manipulation,” but instead simply equals “people working together to build consensus and move forward together.” Sometimes that’s hard to do. Sometimes that’s easy to do. Always that’s worthwhile to do. A large part of our present malaise is… Read more »
I’ll say it again: politics is love.
Politics is people. It comes from the Greek polites for citizen and the Greek polis for city. It’s a tool not a moral standing in my opinion and observation. Politics can be used for good and politics HAVE BEEN used for evil (see Germany, Nazi.) Love is demonstrated in how we deal with each other so perhaps a better way to say it is that love should fill our politics to overflowing. I think, though, that there are times when I–and maybe some of you have experienced this, too–focus on politics as if I have to do something in a… Read more »
And everybody said Amen and Amen! (or should have)
This is a well written post today Mr Barber. Thank you. I think you could also add that participation in the politics of both our state and national conventions is an act of love and cooperation. Too many complain from the outside without taking the time on the inside to help enact the changes they seek. As a member of a cooperating SBC church with a new pastor from outside our convention, I am doing my best to help him get up to speed on the Coperative Program, Lottie, Annie, etc. I have proposed that we increase our CP giving… Read more »
Awesome! That’s EXACTLY what I’m encouraging, and it’s exactly what encourages me!
I’m a southern baptist…I luv politics. At the SBC level there is a feeling of political alienation. Check the attendance stats. The last big push was the GCR, started by an SBC leader, carried forward by a select committee where 2/3 of the members were megachurch people, ending with NAMB empowered to control their budget and get a transformational leader…that’s about it. I’m not optimistic about much change at the SBc level…unless…we have some committed and charismatic leadership. Bart should run for something. I’ll vote for him. Show me just one new CP idea at the national level before I… Read more »
William, I 100% agree that we must conduct our national and state politics in such a way as to instill confidence in people about the process rather than alienate people. That’s so important!
William T
Amen re. local church. I will add that the local church is where the action is (or should be). I strongly believe that we need to spend less time correcting and building the convention and more time strengthening and building the church.
Bart: “… the Cooperative Program cannot be identified with the status quo.” Bart is correct, political behavior is pervasive and all systems are political, as some would suggest, and our experiences certainly suggest such. Ever said, “how in the world did we get this way” or “why did we not do more” or something in these veins? Given rationality is more theoretical than manifest, possible than realized, decisions are a mixture of interests (of various influence potential) and they represent a ‘place’ between those interests driving for greater change and those interests seeking to attenuate its progress. That ‘place’ is… Read more »
Good observations, Norm. Status quo is fluid, but usually within well-established borders.
Very good article. I don’t see how anyone could argue against your proposals. The reason there is so much heat and so little light in the SBC I think is at least partly due to the Church Growth Movement of the 70’s and 80’s. It fractured fellowship by focusing on individual church growth as an end in itself. Of course, it didn’t start out that way, but quickly became a contest where bigger is best, even at the cost of drawing members from smaller churches and destroying those churches in the process. I think the Crystal Cathedral is a standing… Read more »
Your last sentence says it all.
I agree as well Bart,
The CP was born because of the “politics is love” concept. The question is do we (those willing to be called SBC) have leaders that can lead this type of politics and get results. The void of effective leadership is the enemy of love in politics. Finding, identifying, and engaging those effective leaders is the challenge and solution to discover the love in SBC politics once again.
Just a quick thought but I think what some may object to is not politics per se but rather a good ol’ boy network. See definition from urban dictionary. 1) A series of contacts (relatives, friends, friends of friends, ect.) who are willing to help accomplish a task. Usually each contact has some sort of specialty that makes them beneficial to a specific task. Many Good ‘Ol Boy Networks operate on a favor system. A political system which is so ambiguous or undefined that it allows for “good ol’ boy” politics is not healthy. It will lead to an automatic… Read more »