As part of celebrations marking centennial anniversaries during the 2025 TBC Summit, messengers heard from a three-person panel on the continued importance of the Cooperative Program. The panel included Nick Glenn, pastor of Brown Baptist Church in Brownsville; Bruce Chesser, pastor of First Baptist Church Hendersonville; and James Griffith, pastor of South Harriman Baptist Church. – B&R file photo
NASHVILLE (BP) – The Cooperative Program (CP) landscape continues to change, but the rate of change may be slowing.
This fall, just five of the 42 state and regional Baptist conventions in the Southern Baptist family adjusted the percentage of CP receipts they forward to SBC causes. In comparison, 11 states made changes last year. Twenty-three made changes a decade ago.
Thirty-five state conventions kept their 2026 SBC percentages of CP the same as last year’s. Two state conventions (the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Baptist General Association of Virginia) offer churches various giving plans for supporting out-of-state ministries, with CP being among the options.
“States seem to be stabilizing or moving to slightly larger distributions to the SBC,” SBC Executive Committee President Jeff Iorg said.
If the leveling represents a new norm, roughly 42% of CP receipts could be forwarded to SBC causes for the foreseeable future.
“In the last 10 years, state conventions have increased their national SBC contribution from 38.75 to 41.97 percent” of the total CP receipts from churches, Iorg said. “This steady increase is evidence state leaders are committed to increased funding for national ministries – particularly the mission boards. The CP allows us to build the base (state conventions) while expanding our reach (national entities) in partnership together. State convention leaders are passionate about the global work of Southern Baptists and are vital partners.”
CP is Southern Baptists’ unified mechanism for funding missions and ministries in North America and around the world. A local church gives through CP by sending money to its state Baptist convention. That convention, in turn, decides a percentage of CP receipts to use for in-state ministries and a percentage to forward to the Executive Committee for distribution among SBC causes.
Forwarding 42% to SBC causes marks progress. In 2003-04, state conventions forwarded 37.98% of CP receipts to SBC causes. Ten years later, the percentage was 37.80. For 2023-24, the last year for which data is available in SBC Annuals, it was 41.97%.
Those changes yielded an increase from just under $181 million forwarded to SBC causes in 2013-14 to $187.5 million a decade later.
Yet stark economic realities are causing at least some states to level their CP percentages forwarded to SBC causes. In 2003-04, CP giving from churches through their state conventions totaled $499.9 million. A decade later, it had dropped to $478.7 million. For 2023-24, total CP giving through the states declined further to $446.6 million.
Couple that with cumulative U.S. inflation of nearly 70% over the past 20 years, and state conventions have had to get creative with their budgeting. They are sending more to SBC causes even though they are receiving less from churches. That leaves fewer dollars for in-state ministries. Some state conventions have determined that increasing their SBC percentages needs to pause, at least briefly.
But rebudgeting does not reflect waning enthusiasm for Southern Baptists’ cooperative missions funding mechanism, state conventions say. That was the reality in Arkansas this year.
In October, the Arkansas Baptist State Convention voted to reduce its SBC percentage of CP from 46.06 to 40, with an additional 1% of CP receipts going directly to the International Mission Board. While “Arkansas Baptists remain fully committed to the Cooperative Program,” Arkansas Baptists CFO Patrick Henry said, “the financial realities being stewarded at the state level required careful reassessment.”
“One encouraging indicator is that state mission offerings have increased,” Henry said. “This reflects continued generosity and engagement by Arkansas churches, even as giving patterns evolve.”
Across the SBC, “the Cooperative Program remains the most effective mission-funding strategy Southern Baptists have developed,” he said. “The current conversation is not about whether cooperation matters, but about stewarding it wisely in a changing giving landscape.”
The Baptist Resource Network (BRN) of Pennsylvania/South Jersey says one solution to economic strains is increasing the value of cooperative missions to inspire giving. Messengers to the BRN annual meeting in October voted for the eighth consecutive year to increase the convention’s SBC portion of CP by one percentage point. In 2026, the BRN will forward 35% of CP receipts to SBC missions and ministries.
“As we have increased our giving nationally to CP, we also as a team have increased our value in the work we are doing within the state,” BRN executive director Barry Whitworth said. “Now the 65% [for in-state ministries] they see as just as important as sending the 35% to support missionaries and seminaries and all the entities within Southern Baptist life.”
Reemphasizing the value of in-state ministries across the SBC could inspire more CP giving from churches, Whitworth said.
“Our people realize the value of” CP, he said. “They see it. My heart moving forward is to figure out a way to get this next generation locked into it.”
Despite potential leveling of giving percentages, celebration continues to be the watchword with CP. Several state conventions held special activities at their annual meetings to observe CP’s 100th birthday. Iorg said the mood was celebrative.
“I participated in about a dozen state conventions/pastors’ conferences,” Iorg said. “I was consistently impressed by the excitement and gratitude expressed about the Cooperative Program. The 100th anniversary was a major event in many places, and Southern Baptists seem to be both honored and humbled by all CP has accomplished.”
Note: You can read more about the Tennessee Baptist Convention CP celebration held during the 2025 Summit here.
