The uniqueness of church-driven CP giving

As March has arrived, I pray that you are experiencing the best of God’s blessings. As we anticipate the arrival of Resurrection Sunday, we reflect on Jesus’ love and sacrifice for us.

A week ago, I had the opportunity to participate and preach at the 40th anniversary celebration of the Westside Baptist Church in Killeen. Pastor Hallie Tolbert has led this enthusiastic, predominantly African American congregation for the last four decades.

The service was a joyful celebration of God’s faithfulness through songs, testimonies, special presentations and recognitions. The anniversary service took place at the sending church from which Westside Baptist came.

Westside was a church start from Pershing Road Baptist Church in Killeen, the Bell Baptist Association and the Baptist General Convention of Texas in 1985. Since then, Westside has started nine other congregations. It was neat to be in a service where three generations of churches celebrated God’s goodness together.

We are so thankful that through the Cooperative Program and the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions, we have the opportunity to partner with churches to see this kind of multiplication.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program. In 1925, Southern Baptists meeting in Memphis, Tennessee agreed that the best way to move God’s kingdom work forward was through a united effort of giving and distributing, which helped fuel the growth and expansion of the denomination during the twentieth century.

One hundred years later, I believe the Cooperative Program is still the best way for Baptists to join in mission and kingdom efforts. Churches can live out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission in part by continuing to give through the Cooperative Program.

While much has changed and while state conventions are trying to figure out the best way to adapt the Cooperative Program to twenty-first-century realities, the BGCT is unique in that the Texas Baptists Cooperative Program is church-driven.

We have simplified our 2025 Giving Form. The first section refers to the Cooperative Program. This is the lifeline for the Texas Baptists and Worldwide (SBC or otherwise) ministry budgets. Some churches choose to give 100% to the Texas Baptist Cooperative Program. Others have followed the adopted budget of 79% to BGCT and 21% for worldwide causes. And yet others have chosen a different variation of it. It is church-driven!

Worldwide is that which goes beyond Texas. While almost half of the churches that give through the Texas Cooperative Program also give to the Southern Baptist Convention, many churches give to BGCT Worldwide causes, which include River Ministry & Mexico Missions, Partnerships with National Baptist Conventions, the Baptist World Alliance and Go Now Missions. You can see the amounts and percentages on the second page of the giving form.

The second section of the giving form is to be used for special mission offerings that go above and beyond the regular giving through the Cooperative Program, and the third section is for special designations to ministries within the BGCT.

While the BGCT shares similarities to other state conventions, it is unique in that we support twenty-four institutions plus three ministry partners, including education, human care and disaster relief entities. No other state convention has Baptist Student Ministry on 137 college campuses. BGCT churches support 70 international missionaries in 17 countries through the Missionary Adoption Program and about 40 River Ministry and Mexico missionaries along the border on both sides. We support over 1,000 students preparing for ministry with scholarships, and we have endorsed about 1,200 chaplains.

The percentage of 79% for Texas and 21% for worldwide reflects the level of ministry and missions we do in Texas and beyond.

We hope to see many more of our Texas Baptists churches start churches which will celebrate their anniversaries by announcing how many other congregations have been started by them with the help and support of the BGCT.

Thank you for investing in God’s Kingdom through the Cooperative Program.