Cooperating for the Gospel

NASHVILLE (BP) – In 1917, Southern Baptists decided the Convention needed a central office to handle its business throughout the year. When the Cooperative Program was established a few years later, the SBC Executive Committee received a small portion of the budget each year.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Cooperative Program giving for May was above the budget goal for the month. Total giving remains about 3 percent under budget for the year. In actual dollars, year-to-date giving ($126,641,680.27) is almost identical to the amount given through May of last year ($126,667,880.91) – a difference of .02 percent.

In the past decade, there have been debates over what it means to be a church “in friendly cooperation,” and what “dealbreakers” would sever that relationship. These discussions have been confusing at times and the processes contested in part because we are in uncharted territory; the debate itself reflects a development in Southern Baptist self-understanding.

GYPSUM, Colo. (BP) – Ministry in the Rocky Mountains has its built-in benefits. Chief among them, you get to live in the Rocky Mountains. But while the physical landscape is like no other, the pastoral one includes many challenges common to church leaders throughout the country.

NASHVILLE (BP) – The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee will work to fulfill its ministry assignments despite budget challenges in the coming year, EC President and CEO Jeff Iorg told the body Feb. 16 during its meeting in Nashville.

BEAUMONT, Texas – The sacrificial giving that happens at Calvary Baptist Church today has a direct link to the church’s beginning.

TACOMA, Wash. (BP) – As lead pastor of Good News Church in Tacoma, Moscow-born Vasiliy Stupin appreciates the reconciling power of the Gospel among the church’s 800 or so members and attendees from Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe.

Funding missions cooperatively is a hallmark of Southern Baptist churches. But here’s a question worth asking: Do the children in your church know that?

Editor’s note: Recently, Midwestern Seminary & Spurgeon College hosted a chapel panel discussion on the topic, “Why We are Southern Baptist.” This article by Jason Duesing expands upon his comments during the chapel session and is based on his course lectures and essays written over the last two decades. Watch the full panel here. Why am I a […]

NEW ORLEANS (BP) – The church doors would remain open, David Crosby decided after the levees failed New Orleans in Hurricane Katrina.