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Just 4% of SBC Churches Give 50% of All Cooperative Program Gifts (by William Thornton)

September 26, 2013 by Guest Blogger

William remains the SBC Plodder, when he is not out fishing. 

SBC Life has some interesting Cooperative Program statistics in the current issue. Under a short piece entitled, “Interesting (and Important) Facts about the CP?” one finds this:

2,025 churches reported giving a combined amount that equals 50 percent of all Cooperative Program gifts given through the state Baptist conventions — more than 240 million dollars ($240,704,503).*Among churches that gave this amount are:

  • 89—churches with more than 2,000 in worship attendance
  • 56—churches with 1,501 to 2,000 in worship attendance
  • 163—churches with 1,001 to 1,500 in worship attendance
  • 158—churches with 751 to 1,000 in worship attendance
  • 348—churches with 501 to 750 in worship attendance
  • 886—churches with 251 to 500 in worship attendance
  • 277—churches with 126 to 250 in worship attendance
  • 19—churches with 125 or under in worship attendance
  • 29—churches did not report their attendance


I doubt you would have guessed that about 2,000 of the SBC’s 46,000 churches are responsible for half of all the Cooperative Program giving. 

And if you look at the listing of the sizes of these churches given above, you may be persuaded away from the old saw that all those average and small SBC churches that give high percentages are the backbone of the CP. Their giving is important and commendable but the backbone seems to be the larger, mid-mega, and megachurches if we’re talking about the dollars that pay all the SBC bills.

These 2,025 churches gave an average of 8.1% of their undesignated receipts through the Cooperative Program. That percentage is significantly above the average, which hovers between five and six percent.

Want some good news about Cooperative Program giving?

For the first time since fiscal 1999-2000, the percentage forwarded by the churches through the Cooperative Program did not decline.

  • In 2011, the average percentage giving from all churches was 5.407 percent.
  • In 2012, the average percentage giving from all churches rose slightly to 5.414 percent.

Frank Page should declare an SBC party day over the .007 increase in average percentage. It is a miniscule increase but it is an increase. Perhaps the Cooperative Program has reached its percentage floor.

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