Great Commission vs Cooperative Program Giving

When the SBC approved the new giving category, Great Commission Giving, an aggregate category that includes giving to the Cooperative Program, state convention, local association, plus any direct gifts to any SBC entity, great weeping and gnashing of teeth ensued in some quarters. Dire predictions of negative effects on the Cooperative Program were made.

2011 was the first reporting year for GCG but I don't know that much can be learned by it, since nothing can be viewed comparatively; nonetheless, here are some figures for the top giving churches in the Georgia Baptist Convention:

First Woodstock (Johnny Hunt's megachurch):
Total gifts   $1,194,200
Total CP            866,170
Total GCG      3,144,120   

Woodstock is the top Cooperative Program giving church in the GBC. Their CP gifts were 27.5% of their total Great Commission Giving meaning that they gave a lot more directly to SBC causes than to the CP.

Hebron, Dacula (formerly Larry Wynn's megachurch):
Total gifts    $902,640
Total CP         840,905
Total GCG      944,882

Only Woodstock gave more to the CP than Hebron last year. Hebron's CP gifts were 93.1% of their total Great Commission Giving indicating that their main channel for SBC giving was the CP.

Johnson Ferry (Bryant Wright's megachurch):
Total gifts     $566,079
Total CP          566,079
Total GCG       793,315

Johnson Ferry's CP gifts were 71.4% of their total Great Commission Giving.

Clearly, Woodstock and Hebron have different giving philosophies.

Local church autonomy at work.

I haven't asked but it looks like Johnson Ferry chooses to report differently than the other two. Fact is, the Great Commission Giving total for any church would be a voluntarily reported figure supplied by the church that is comprised of components that could not be easily checked. I'm not alleging anything here about JFBC, just saying that a simple comparison of GCG statistics may not be valid.


I first heard Adrian Rogers make the statement that "Dollars pay the bills, not percentages," an assertion made to counter the complaint of megachurches giving smaller percentages to the Cooperative Program than other churches. Of course he was right and that assertion is manifestly true.

Here in Georgia, Woodstock First is the top CP giving church in total gifts - $866,170. That amount is over six times larger than the aggregate Cooperative Program giving of the top five churches in the GBC in percentage Cooperative Program giving (and who average giving 39% of their total undesignated giving to the CP).

All deserve praise for their support of missions through the Cooperative Program. None deserve criticism.

My view has been that the new Great Commission Giving category will merely reflect the reality on the ground rather than generate any new giving trends. While it may be useful for comparison of candidates for SBC offices, it is beginning to look like it may be a fuzzier figure than originally thought.

But, for SBCers who are numbers junkies, here's something to chew on.

Before we get too depressed about the Cooperative Program...

...Southern Baptists, both pastors/laypeople in churches and denominational employees in their offices in Nashville, Alpharetta, Richmond and the states, might remind themselves of a few things.

1. The Cooperative Program, though steadily declining as a percentage of church offering plate dollars, and the decline spans a couple of generations, is still an enormous funding engine. Sure, it has dropped some millions or so the last couple of years but is still gigantic. We are the envy of others in this.

2. Nothing on the horizon makes me think that the CP is going the way of the ivory-billed woodpecker, the most famous extinct American bird, last seen in 1944. Churches will continue to give to the CP, although I see nothing on the horizon that will stanch lower percentages from the churches.

3. Consider our moderate brethren, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Their latest round of double digit percentage budget cuts leaves their national organization about the size of a single SBC megachurch. Their survival is a legitimate question. The same cannot be said for the SBC or any of our entities.

4. Some mega-SBCers are making mega CP moves. Johnny Hunt's church, FBC Woodstock, will give nearly a million dollars to the CP this year, almost doubling what they did last year. The thousands of average-sized churches may not be persuaded to follow the example but megachurch critics will at least have to acknowledge Hunt's move as positive for the CP.

5. The cuts made by some SBC entities are real and severe; however, the CP, along with the two major mission offerings, give the SBC an enormous capacity to absorb financial blows. Even the troubled North American Mission Board has survived major debacles along with the recent recession and still has $140+ millions of our dollars to spend.

6. Whatever the flaws, I find no other funding mechanism that makes as good a sense as the CP.

So, Plodder will hold off the CP obituary for awhile.