The world’s most effective system for missions giving is the Cooperative Program of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through offerings from all our churches, the Cooperative Program produces about $190 million for missions work every year. Each time you give to your church, a small portion (whatever percentage your church chooses) goes through the Cooperative Program to the mission field, starting in Illinois and then to the whole world.

For every dollar you give to your church, someone somewhere in the world is touched by the Gospel. 

The Cooperative Program was started in 1925 by the Southern Baptist Convention as a system of mission support. It is a financial partnership churches, the IBSA and the Southern Baptist Convention that supports numerous ministries and mission efforts in Illinois and around the world.

Through CP today, over 44,000 SBC churches support the missions and ministries of the International Mission Board, North American Mission Board, 42 state conventions, six SBC Seminaries and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.  This includes the nearly 11,000 missionaries serving throughout the United States, including nearly 100 in Illinois, and in more than 153 countries. CP also underwrites the education of more than 16,500 men and women enrolled in the SBC’s six seminaries – the largest evangelical seminary system in the world.

Half of the 43.25 cents of the Cooperative Program dollar sent to the Southern Baptist Convention is used to support the evangelistic efforts of the International Mission Board. The remaining amount is divided with 23 percent going to the North American Mission Board, 21 percent to six Southern Baptist seminaries and 6 percent to miscellaneous causes.

The Cooperative Program is the heart of Southern Baptist missions and ministries to Illinois and the world. IBSA sends 43.25% of Cooperative Program gifts received from IBSA churches to the Southern Baptist Convention for national and international ministries, and is the fourth largest percentage of all the other Baptist state conventions. The amount retained for missions in Illinois is used in four strategic areas:

Strengthening Churches
IBSA staff provides training for more than 22,000 Illinois Baptist church leaders in areas such as evangelism, Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, church health, worship, student and family ministry and much more.

Starting Churches
In partnership with local associations, IBSA staff and missionaries plan to start at least 30 new churches this year, while we continue to support churches started the last two years. Many of those churches are designed to reach the growing ethnic population of Illinois the growing generation of unchurched young adults.

Sending Christians
IBSA will conduct at least 24 different missions awareness events this year, and work with churches and local associations to mobilize as many as 25,000 missions volunteers into their Acts 1:8 mission fields.

Stimulating Stewardship
IBSA helps generate prayer, financial and volunteer support for more than 10,000 missionaries in North America and throughout the world – almost 100 here in Illinois – who are on the field because of the sacrificial gifts of Southern Baptists through CP and special missions offerings.

The Cooperative Program is the primary funding source for cooperative ministries among Southern Baptists, and this consistency ensures the fulltime deployment of 5,500 missionaries overseas and 5,300 missionaries in the U.S. and Canada – nearly 100 in Illinois. CP also underwrites the education of more than 16,500 men and women enrolled in the SBC’s six seminaries.

Recently, SBC Executive Committee president Frank Page challenged churches to raise their Cooperative Program support by 1 percent during the next year. If SBC churches would increase their CP giving by 1 percent next year, an additional $100 million would be available for accomplishing the Great Commission, Page said during the Executive Committee report at the SBC annual meeting.

This would allow hundreds of churches to be planted across the United States, he said. Internationally, 380 missionaries could be commissioned to begin reaching the 3,800 unengaged people groups worldwide. A 1 percent increase could boost seminary student enrollment by 16,000 students.

IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams supports Page’s challenge because, “First, it meets every church right where they are, and gives them a simple step of faith that can move them slowly but surely toward stronger Great Commission obedience. Second, it is a challenge that’s not so much about dollars as it is about shared, proportional sacrifice. That’s the kind of giving we want our church members to understand in the biblical practice of tithing, and I believe it’s the kind of giving that God commends and really blesses.”

Illinois Missions is a free bulletin insert designed to help Illinois Baptists cooperate to reach our state and the world for Christ. To order inserts in lots of 50, call (217) 391-3116 or e-mail IllinoisMissions@IBSA.org.

• CP: Your CP giving helps people come to Christ
• CP: 1% Challenge
• CP: Sharing Christ with our state, nation and world
• CP: The heart of Southern Baptists missions and ministries

• The 1% Challenge
• Empty Hands

• 1% Challenge
• Considering the 1% Challenge
• A penny for their thoughts

How can you be involved in the Cooperative Program?

Pray. Pray regularly for your Southern Baptist missionaries in Illinois and around the globe. “Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers.” Matthew 9:38 (HCSB)

Go. Be involved in some sort of missions endeavor. You are God’s missionary right where you live. “Go...and make disciples of all nations.” Matthew 28:19 (HCSB)

Give. Out of love for the Lord, give regularly to Him through your church. “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse.” Malachi 3:10 (NKJV)

(217) 391-3116
IlinoisMissions@IBSA.org