|
|||
 |
|||
 |
|||
Collegiate & Young Singles Ministry
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Ordinances | Steps to Peace with God Our Relationship With Other Churches
The Cooperative Program Our church gives to missions through a unique giving program, joining with over 45,000 other churches, giving together to the world-wide effort of missions. This is accomplished through the Cooperative Program, a giving program where each church voluntarily gives a designated amount. These gifts are distributed to various ministries, including the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Southern Baptist Convention missions efforts, including the International Mission Board with 5,000 missionaries and the North American Mission Board, with almost 5,000 missionaries, along with seminaries, etc. about how the church relates to the association and conventions.
Why Not Just Be An Independent Church? We are an independent church! Every church is completely independent. There is no denominational control or hierarchy, as there is in most other denominations. Each church is self-governed and determines it own affairs. For example:
What is the Cooperative Program? The Cooperative Program is an agreement among Southern Baptist churches, Baptist state conventions and fellowships, and the Southern Baptist Convention to work together in Great Commission ministries. It is a way of working together and a financial channel of cooperation through which mission dollars are combined into a unified budget supporting the Southern Baptist missionary, education, and benevolent ministries in each state, the nation, and throughout the world.
Through the Cooperative Program, the mission of a single church is extended to ministries for the needy, the sick, the aged, and the lost, as well as the support of about 9000 North American and International missionaries. The Cooperative Program, a financial lifeline developed by Southern Baptists, was born out of financial crisis. However, it has grown to be a tool, used by God to empower the witness of Southern Baptists in North America and around the world.
WHEN? In 1845, the Southern Baptist Convention was organized to extend the mission Christ assigned the church from the local community into all the world. For eighty years many attempts were made to unite the efforts of the churches. Finally, in 1919, an endeavor which led to the Cooperative Program was launched. It was the Seventy-Five Million Campaign.
A five-year program to raise $75 million, the campaign appeared to have failed when, in 1924, the amount received was $13 million short of the goal. However, through this experience, Southern Baptist leaders realized what could be done when the efforts of all Southern Baptist churches were united behind one purpose. Out of this realization the Cooperative Program was born in 1925 and has become the “genius” behind the most effective and efficient denominational mission program in the world.
HOW? When a church adopts the Cooperative Program as a means to “make disciples of all nations,” it has taken a major step in the right direction, but it is only the first step.
WHY? The Cooperative Program is an exercise in trust among individuals, churches, and conventions doing the Great Commission.
The Cooperative Program is a trust to be accepted by people who administer its funds and budgets, receive their support from it, and/or receive benefits, such as students in seminaries.
The Cooperative Program is the responsibility of each Southern Baptist. When you tithe your church sends a portion of your gift through the Cooperative Program, you participate in all ministries done in Jesus’ name in your state convention, the United States and its territories, and throughout the world.
As you grow in the practice of biblical stewardship, the Cooperative Program grows in its ability to make an impact on the extension of the kingdom of God on earth. Just as the individual is expected to grow in giving, it is equally important for each church to grow in giving its mission dollars through the Cooperative Program. This is the only way the support for mission ministries will grow.
You, as a Southern Baptist church member, have the privilege to be a part of the most efficient and effective missionary-sending denomination in church history. It is also your privilege to be an advocate for this mission-support method. As a Southern Baptist you can feel proud that you are a “laborer together with God” through the Cooperative Program.
Ordinances | Steps to Peace with God 2005 Duncanville's First Baptist ChurchLast modified: 06/12/07 | Webmaster
|
See Something Wrong?