Hello, BRN Family! It’s good to be with you today.
This week (May 13), I had the privilege of attending the Centennial Celebration of the Cooperative Program. Did you catch what I just said? It was the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program!
This event was held exactly 100 years after and within a few hundred yards of the exact location as the presentation and adoption of the Cooperative Program by messengers to the 1925 SBC convention. At that time, messengers tackled how best to fund SBC missionaries and ministries, resulting in the development of the Cooperative Program and over 100 years of cooperation between churches.
In fact, since its inception, Southern Baptists have given more than $20 billion nationally to support missions, seminary education, church planting, disaster relief, public policy work and more.
At this historic event, 73 pastors, national SBC leaders, state convention leaders, and ethnic leaders gathered to sign a declaration that thanked local churches for a century of generosity and commended “all who promote, support, and renew their commitment to the Cooperative Program among our family of churches, mission boards, seminaries, entities, local Baptist associations, and state conventions.”
The declaration also serves as “a public statement, both to ourselves and to the watching world, that we joyfully depend upon one another and commit ourselves to one another, as a Southern Baptist people on a global mission – and that our Cooperative Program is an effective and cherished resource to be celebrated and perpetuated.”
The declaration will be shared with the SBC Committee on Resolutions for consideration to be presented to messengers at the SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas June 10-11.
It was a privilege to share in this historic moment. I wanted to continue the celebration by thanking you for your faithfulness in giving to the Cooperative Program. We can always do more together than we can do alone. Thank you!
If you have any questions, please contact us at the Help Desk at [email protected] or 717-652-5856. As always, thanks for listening in and God bless you!
