Cooperative Program

I love a good Cooperative Program (CP) story because Cooperative Program stories are ultimately about people. That’s one reason I love pastor James Suggs. He embodies everything that is great about CP.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Redemption Church started what Pastor Bryan Bernard calls a Gospel Initiative last September. Since then, 39 people have made professions of faith in Jesus and 17 have been baptized.

Cooperation as a convictional, operational mindset is the foundation of the movement known as Southern Baptists. Many Southern Baptists equate cooperation with the Cooperative Program, our common funding mechanism, but it is much more than that. Cooperation is the theological and theoretical foundation upon which our movement rests.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Cooperative Program giving was 2.43 percent below the budget goal in March, while designated giving was 1.57 percent below the same number from last year. Southern Baptists gave nearly $14.9 million through CP during the sixth month of the fiscal year. The budget target was $15.25 million.

ELEELE, Kauai, Hawaii – A church doesn’t need to be large to have an impact, either in its community or worldwide. Eleele Baptist Church and its Sunday morning congregation of about 45 is a case in point.

NASHVILLE (BP) – Cooperative Program giving was 5.05 percent below the budget goal in February, while designated giving was just over 7 percent below the same number from last year. Southern Baptists gave just over $18 million through CP during the fifth month of the fiscal year. The budget target was $19 million.

Members of the 1936 U.S. Olympic Rowing team depicted in the movie “The Boys in the Boat” were able to accomplish far more than anyone expected because they discovered what can happen when you work together in perfect unity. There is something that happens when rowers are in perfect rhythm and sync with one another. It is called “swing.”

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (BP) – A nearly 33 percent jump in baptisms, a steady rise in Cooperative Program giving and vibrant international missions were celebrated as Puerto Rican Southern Baptists gathered Feb. 15 in San Juan for their 2025 annual meeting.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Southern Baptists have been missionary minded since their first day and their first action. When 293 delegates gathered in 1845 in Augusta, Georgia, for the inaugural meeting of the convention, their first resolution expressed the desire to “organize a convention for the propagation of the gospel.”

AUSTIN, Texas -- More than three dozen people from Acts Fellowship Church in Austin have gone to seminary, including 20 who have trained at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary—a testament to the vitality of a Cooperative Program partnership.