MESSAGE FROM MATT
 
The above is the title of an article written by Associational Mission Strategist Josh Ellis, who serves the local churches in the Houston area. I'll draw some from Josh's article in giving the answer. 
 
I'll admit that I was surprised when I learned the answer to this question. Though I grew up attending Southern Baptist churches, it wasn't till I was planting churches in Florida and had to put together a church budget that I understood how these things worked. Somehow I had the impression that when our church gave to the Cooperative Program (CP), it was a "catch-all" that would help to fund entities from the local to the international level, from the association to the foreign mission field. 
 
I was surprised to find out that's not the case--the Cooperative Program and associations are funded separately. In other words, Southern Baptist churches generally decide on a percentage of their offerings that will go to the Cooperative Program and a percentage that will go to the local association. I say "generally" because some churches choose to go with fixed amounts rather than percentages. 
 
So what's the background for this pattern of funding? Back in the early 1900s, funding missions in Baptist life—things like sending missionaries overseas and providing training for ministers—was done primarily by individual churches giving funds directly to those causes. There were also state conventions and groups (called societies) that helped finance missions. So each church decided—as they were regularly visited by missionary couples, colleges, societies, orphanages, and any number of other ministries soliciting funds—to whom to give a portion of their offerings. These good causes were generally outside the church's local context. 
 
Missions efforts within the church's local context were carried out by the church and also by cooperating with other churches in the area—through the work of the local association. The local association was where churches engaged their context by working together. That continues to be how things work today. 
 
So how does the Cooperative Program work?

• The Cooperative Program was created to form a unified budget through which churches could support a number of missions efforts outside their local context. And from it, missionaries could be sent, churches could be planted, colleges could be started and maintained, disaster relief could be done, and a wide variety of ministries could be shared. 
• The Cooperative Program was created to be administered through the state convention. Churches in Oklahoma send their missions offerings to the state convention (Oklahoma Baptists). Oklahoma Baptists retain a portion to fund their ministries here in Oklahoma. They send the other portion on to the Cooperative Program, where it is divided up according to certain percentages. 
• The CP was devised with the assumption that churches would always primarily focus on their local context and, by proxy, support their local Baptist association directly. The local association should be an asset to churches wanting to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ in their local context. Our association gets a tiny portion of our budget from Oklahoma Baptists, but we receive no other funding from any Baptist entity. While it might appear that associations are part of the CP system, in reality churches must support them directly.  

 
But what about the special offerings Southern Baptist churches give on an annual basis? The Annie Armstrong Easter Offering benefits the North American Mission Board. The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering benefits the International Mission Board. In Oklahoma, the Edna McMillan State Missions Offering is given directly by churches to the state convention. These are given directly by churches to supplement the funds these entities receive through the CP.
 
You hear me talk a lot about how Together Everyone Accomplishes More (T.E.A.M.) At all levels, we're better together and accomplish more than we could alone. The Cooperative Program works much as it has for the last 100+ years, asking churches to give sacrificially so that all kinds of things can get done for the cause of Christ. And at home, CSBA operates on the same principle: we're better together. CSBA is planting churches, revitalizing churches, equipping pastors and ministers, and providing resources to churches—all for the good of our local churches. We're better when we do all those things together!

Matt Spann
CSBA Mission Strategist