Women on Mission July 2019
A Focus on Cooperative Program
Accomplishing More Together.
English Baptist William Carey answered the call to carry the gospel to India in the late 1700s. He recognized that to be effective in his efforts, he needed partnership and cooperation. He challenged churches to “hold the ropes” by committing to pray for and give to mission efforts.
In 1845, the Southern Baptist Convention was formed and continued in the spirit of fulfilling the Great Commission. The initial approach was a societal method of giving. Missionaries had to raise their own financial support and devote significant time to cultivating churches and individuals for that support. As missions efforts grew rapidly, so did the competition for funding. God led Southern Baptist in 1925 to launch a unified channel of giving called the Cooperative Program. It is a lifeline of support that begins with individual believers in each Southern Baptist congregation. As believers respond in obedience to give to the Lord in the local church, churches, in turn, allocate a percentage of undesignated gifts through the Cooperative Program for state, national, and international missions.
The simple principle that more can be accomplished together than alone is the genius of the Cooperative Program. For almost 90 years, Southern Baptist have supported thousands of missionaries, planted multitudes of churches, and witnesses countless lives profess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
Can one local church support more than 6,000 missionaries as well as six seminaries and engage more than 3,000 unreached people groups around the world? By giving through the Cooperative Program, yes, it can.
Please continue to feed your World Hunger bank. These will be returned Sunday, August 4th.
Women on Mission will meet with Kathleen Qualkenbush on Monday, July 8th at 6:00 pm. All our ladies are invited to join us.