Press Release

The Executive Committee
of the
Southern Baptist Convention

Statement of the President
Morris H. Chapman
on proposed changes to CP recommendations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 26, 2006--“The mention of a specific percentage in the recommendations has generated so much discussion from a variety of perspectives that we felt a revision would allow all Southern Baptists, from churches large and small, to enthusiastically approve the report, including the nine recommendations.  The Ad Hoc CP Committee, Anthony Jordan, chair, worked tirelessly for almost three years and published an excellent and challenging report.  The spirit of the committee members was to produce something about which all Southern Baptists could be excited.  The officers of the Executive Committee and I feel we are recommending a revision that will make the acceptance of the report universal among Southern Baptists while remaining a challenge to every church and every pastor.

“Some seem to have misperceived that the Executive Committee and the Ad Hoc CP Committee were attempting to ‘mandate’ or ‘require’ churches to give at least ten percent.  Others feared the ten percent would become a litmus test for electing state and national officers.  This was never the intent.  The members of both the Executive Committee and the CP Committee strongly believe in the autonomy of the local church and fully understand that only a local church can decide what portion of their tithes and offerings will be given through the Cooperative Program.  The language of the recommendations keyed on the word, ‘encourage.’

“Nevertheless, if we can dispel misunderstandings about the report, we are obligated for the sake of God’s Kingdom and the Convention to do so.  We need each other in the monumental task of taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  The Convention is a network of churches knitted together by the tenuous thread of cooperation.  Convention leaders can encourage, but only the churches can decide how much to invest in Southern Baptist missions and how far to go with the Gospel.

“The Cooperative Program supplements the tuition costs of our students in six Southern Baptist seminaries.  In fact, almost every pastor now living who went to a Southern Baptist seminary received an outstanding theological education at a fraction of the actual cost.  The Cooperative Program makes it possible for us to raise our voices for religious liberty and a moral and ethical culture in America and beyond.  I am praying that the heightened discussion of the Cooperative Program has created a moment of reflection in the heart of every Southern Baptist and that we shall find ourselves taking a fresh look at the worth of cooperative missions supported through the Cooperative Program.

“There has been a decreasing percentage of Cooperative Program receipts coming from the churches over the last 21 years.  In 1984, the average percentage of undesignated receipts Southern Baptist churches gave through the Cooperative Program was 10.6 percent.  In 2005, the last year of record, the average percentage Southern Baptist churches gave through the Cooperative Program was 6.66 percent. 

“Along with the officers, I genuinely hope the revisions to be recommended to the Executive Committee will signal all Southern Baptists that we need to pull together in lifting up the Jesus of the Bible to a lost world.  Our zeal for the Bible has been well established.  At this juncture of Southern Baptist history, we face one critical question, ‘Can we do any less than to seize the moment to stand side by side, working together cooperatively, for the sake of sending multitudes of Gospel preachers and missionaries to the ends of the earth?’”

The Southern Baptist Convention is America’s largest evangelical denomination, having more than 16.2 million members in over 43,500 churches nationwide. The Executive Committee is the administrative entity responsible for facilitating the ongoing work of the Convention between annual meetings with offices in Nashville, Tennessee.

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