History southern baptist cooperative program

CP: Bringing the hope of spiritual reconciliation to Atlanta. CP: Changing lives one verse at a time in Farmington. CP: Revitalizing a dying church in Nampa. Barry Whitworth: Cooperative Program solved dilemma of competing and overlapping funding appeals. CP: Planting a church in Baltimore. Cooperative Program Ambassadors Guide.

CP: Taking the worry out of practical needs. CP: Planting a church in Salinas. What the Cooperative Program means — CP video. How the Cooperative Program works-CP video. CP: Planting a church in the Bronx. Church members were now able to write one check to their church, give one offering, and know that the money would be disbursed to help not only their local church — but through the Cooperative Program — their state convention, the SBC, and hundreds of Baptist causes.

Giving was simplified, yet maximized, at the same time. Today the Southern Baptist Convention consists of over 16 million members in 44, churches in all 50 US states and Canada. What an amazing impact this channel of giving has had, over 80 years after its inception.

So that year, in spite of having a reputation for internal bickering, Southern Baptists voted to enter a new fundraising campaign, the Seventy Five Million Campaign. This five-year pledge campaign challenged every Southern Baptist to give a consistent amount of money to the funding plan.

Everyone got behind the initiative. Scarborough, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, was granted a leave of absence to serve as general director. He traveled across the country promoting the campaign. Every church and association had a campaign director. Part of the campaign was finding those God had called to missions and the ministry — 20, people volunteered!

Everyone rejoiced across the country. What was the short-term effect of the Seventy Five Million Campaign? Many Baptist entities had borrowed against the promised pledges and were in worse debt than before.

Although many Baptists declared the campaign a failure, the Holy Spirit had taught Southern Baptists some key lessons. Colleges, associations and other organizations received millions of dollars. What was the lasting effect of the Seventy Five Million Campaign? The true success of the dramatic experience was in the transforming discovery of cooperation. Baptists learned the power of cooperative giving and the power of working together as a whole.

It demonstrated the power of the unified appeal to our Baptist work.