Administration / Finance
Cooperative Program
Biblical Foundations for Cooperative Program
The New Testament is a missionary treatise. Each of the Gospels records its version of Jesus' Great Commission in which He commands His church to "make disciples of all peoples." Making disciples of Jesus includes leading people to conversion baptizing them and teaching them all things He has commanded. Just before Jesus returned to the Father He left us the challenge to be witnesses for Him in all the earth (Acts 1:8). We can see the obedience of Paul to this commission in the accounts of Paul's great missionary journeys chronicled in the book of Acts. The very heart and soul of Christianity is missions.
How do we best accomplish this missionary mandate in the 21st Century? It is our belief that Christ gave to His churches this assignment to evangelize the world. Matthew records in chapter 16 that Jesus established His church and then said, "I give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom is bigger than a church. It encompasses the world. But Jesus said it is His church that is given the keys to unlock the door to the Kingdom that those from the world may enter in. The question remains "How can my church best do this?"
The CNBC exists because the churches that make it up believe that no one church can effectively carry out the Great commission by herself. It will be best done in cooperation with other churches that believe essentially the same doctrines and that are committed to total evangelism. Total evangelism begins with church planting so that lost persons may be won to Christ baptized and taught. It includes training leaders to plant and lead churches and train those who come to Christ. It includes works of ministry and mercy to meet the physical needs and hurts of a lost and hurting world.
The Cooperative Program of World Missions
The basic channel that the CNBC has established to carry out the Great Commission is the Cooperative Program of World Missions known by its shorter name the Cooperative Program (CP). This is the heartbeat or the basic means we use to fund our total missions ministry worldwide. Each church that chooses to work through our convention to reach the lost world decides what they wish to channel to world missions. They send their cheque monthly to the CNBC office. It is then distributed to world missions according to the annual budget of the CNBC which the church messengers have adopted at the Annual Convention. The churches determine together in convention the use of their mission dollars.
The CP is a balanced effective efficient means of supporting the total mission ministries of the churches of the CNBC. When God calls missionaries from one of our cooperating churches and they are appointed by our convention they receive a regular salary and benefits to free them to go to the field where they have been called. They do not need to spend time raising and maintaining their own support. We believe world missions is the churches' mission and so churches support their missionaries through the CP.
Some of the funds sent from the churches also go to assist in church planting here at home. Some help support the Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary to train pastors missionaries and church leaders. Some go to support hunger and disaster needs around the world. Together with the Southern Baptist Convention we support more than 5000 international missionaries in over 150 countries. Another 5000 plus missionaries are supported for evangelism and church planting in Canada and the US. We don't have room to list all the ministries supported by your CP giving!
The CP is the "bread and butter" of all our mission work. It enables each church no matter how small to be involved literally in carrying out the Great Commission to the ends of the earth. It should be the first avenue of mission support every month by each of our cooperating churches. In addition to the CP the CNBC affords participating churches opportunities to give to specific mission causes from time to time throughout the year. Because the CP covers all the CNBC administrative costs 100% of the special offerings go to the causes specified.
