Cooperative Program vs Great Commission Giving
There is a storm on the horizon and many are not even aware of the danger that this storm could pose to one of the best-run organizations in our country. There is a movement among Southern Baptists to de-emphasize the foundational Cooperative Program in favor of the Great Commission Giving model. The danger stems from the lack of information that the average Southern Baptist has about either of these financial designs for tithing. And to be honest, most Christians in general would rather not even think about tithing, much less hear another sermon or lesson about tithing.
But tithing is a basic requirement by God to test our faith in His ability to take care of us. Everything we have belongs to God. He could easily give or take away anything at anytime, but as part of our free will God has instructed us to set aside the first 10% of everything we make so that we can offer it up to Him (Leviticus 27:30-32). Malachi 3:10 even teaches us that we are to bring all of our tithe to the storehouse (synagogue or currently the local church), not split it among other ministries and venues. The Bible clearly spells this out in numerous places and we are reminded about it in the New Testament just in case the legalistic Christians tried to claim that it was an Old Testament expectation that no longer applies to those freed of the law through salvation (Luke 11:42, Matthew 22:21).
So how does this apply to the current issue of the varying choices listed above for Southern Baptists? You just need to understand what these two giving methods are see why it is a concern to many in our Convention, states and local churches. The Cooperative Program has been the giving method used by the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) since 1925. The original intent was to allow churches to participate in supporting their local associations, state conventions, the SBC, Sunday School Board, mission boards, seminaries and more by simply sending out a tithe of the money giving to them by their congregants. Not all local churches would forward a tenth of their offerings, but each church sacrificed as they felt led and birthed the greatest and most efficient method for funding the full ministries of the SBC. Local churches were still given the opportunity to support special ministries and even national and international mission efforts, but the Cooperative Program helped to guarantee that the many arms of the SBC would continue to receive the funding necessary to function and minister.
Great Commission Giving (or Great Commission Resurgence) claims to reaffirm the Cooperative Program as the primary method for supporting the SBC, yet they want to celebrate with churches that felt led to channel their giving through other methods as well. What does this mean? Let’s say that a local church supports most SBC ministries, but they have had some differences of opinion with their local association or state convention. This church could choose to not send any money to support these ministries and designate their giving to other SBC ministries instead. Or perhaps a church feels that they wants to support some of their own members who have gone into ministries outside of the church and decide to give funding to them rather than supporting the International Mission Board. Or what about a church that decides they want to start their own seminary because they disapprove of what is taught at the five SBC seminaries, so they choose to fund their own seminary and not financially support the SBC seminaries. The Great Commission Giving model could easily result in the end of many SBC ministries.
According to those who prefer the Great Commission Giving method, the local churches will still support all of the SBC ministries through the Cooperative Program. The truth however is that the churches which prefer the Great Commission Giving model have drastically cut their support to SBC ministries and the Cooperative Program in order to support other non-SBC ministries. I am not opposed to change by any means, but I do think that we need to be honest about why we want to make the change. Those who are pushing the SBC to adopt the Great Commission Giving model are often churches that give little if anything to the Cooperative Program. Yet, these churches want to continue to be part of the SBC while not supporting the SBC.
We already see this in churches were members do not like a certain ministry or pastor of the church, so they designate their giving to the ministry of their choice or even designate that their offering is only for a specific non-local church ministry such as missions. These individuals want to follow the “letter of the law” while retaining control of how their tithe is spent. This is clearly not biblical based on God’s design shown in Malachi, so why should we think that to carry this “I want my way” mentality beyond the local church level would be any more biblical? Will God bless a convention that is so divided in our beliefs that the local churches want to control how their tithes are spent? Once we offer up our tithes to God, they belong to Him, not to us. If we try to control what God does with these tithes, then we have not truly offered them to Him.
Malachi 3:8-12 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. 12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.
But tithing is a basic requirement by God to test our faith in His ability to take care of us. Everything we have belongs to God. He could easily give or take away anything at anytime, but as part of our free will God has instructed us to set aside the first 10% of everything we make so that we can offer it up to Him (Leviticus 27:30-32). Malachi 3:10 even teaches us that we are to bring all of our tithe to the storehouse (synagogue or currently the local church), not split it among other ministries and venues. The Bible clearly spells this out in numerous places and we are reminded about it in the New Testament just in case the legalistic Christians tried to claim that it was an Old Testament expectation that no longer applies to those freed of the law through salvation (Luke 11:42, Matthew 22:21).
So how does this apply to the current issue of the varying choices listed above for Southern Baptists? You just need to understand what these two giving methods are see why it is a concern to many in our Convention, states and local churches. The Cooperative Program has been the giving method used by the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) since 1925. The original intent was to allow churches to participate in supporting their local associations, state conventions, the SBC, Sunday School Board, mission boards, seminaries and more by simply sending out a tithe of the money giving to them by their congregants. Not all local churches would forward a tenth of their offerings, but each church sacrificed as they felt led and birthed the greatest and most efficient method for funding the full ministries of the SBC. Local churches were still given the opportunity to support special ministries and even national and international mission efforts, but the Cooperative Program helped to guarantee that the many arms of the SBC would continue to receive the funding necessary to function and minister.
Great Commission Giving (or Great Commission Resurgence) claims to reaffirm the Cooperative Program as the primary method for supporting the SBC, yet they want to celebrate with churches that felt led to channel their giving through other methods as well. What does this mean? Let’s say that a local church supports most SBC ministries, but they have had some differences of opinion with their local association or state convention. This church could choose to not send any money to support these ministries and designate their giving to other SBC ministries instead. Or perhaps a church feels that they wants to support some of their own members who have gone into ministries outside of the church and decide to give funding to them rather than supporting the International Mission Board. Or what about a church that decides they want to start their own seminary because they disapprove of what is taught at the five SBC seminaries, so they choose to fund their own seminary and not financially support the SBC seminaries. The Great Commission Giving model could easily result in the end of many SBC ministries.
According to those who prefer the Great Commission Giving method, the local churches will still support all of the SBC ministries through the Cooperative Program. The truth however is that the churches which prefer the Great Commission Giving model have drastically cut their support to SBC ministries and the Cooperative Program in order to support other non-SBC ministries. I am not opposed to change by any means, but I do think that we need to be honest about why we want to make the change. Those who are pushing the SBC to adopt the Great Commission Giving model are often churches that give little if anything to the Cooperative Program. Yet, these churches want to continue to be part of the SBC while not supporting the SBC.
We already see this in churches were members do not like a certain ministry or pastor of the church, so they designate their giving to the ministry of their choice or even designate that their offering is only for a specific non-local church ministry such as missions. These individuals want to follow the “letter of the law” while retaining control of how their tithe is spent. This is clearly not biblical based on God’s design shown in Malachi, so why should we think that to carry this “I want my way” mentality beyond the local church level would be any more biblical? Will God bless a convention that is so divided in our beliefs that the local churches want to control how their tithes are spent? Once we offer up our tithes to God, they belong to Him, not to us. If we try to control what God does with these tithes, then we have not truly offered them to Him.
Malachi 3:8-12 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty. 12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.
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