Point of View

If you are a Southern Baptist what do you need to know about the Cooperative Program? Is it merely a way to support the denomination, or is it a relevant, viable process that makes a difference in people’s lives beginning where you live and extending around the world?

The Cooperative Program has the potential, when rightly employed, for moving Southern Baptist missions and ministries from the ordinary, the average, the good—to superlative, outstanding, great fruitfulness for the kingdom of God.

YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE GREAT NEED

In Matthew 9:35–38, Jesus emphasizes to his disciples the great need of humanity. He was in the midst of ministry and began to be overwhelmed by the vast “lostness” of humanity. He was moved with compassion because they were “harassed and helpless.” He said, “The harvest truly is plentiful” (NKJV). In a companion passage in John 4, the same idea is used when Jesus says to his disciples, “The harvest is ripe.” It is ready. Don’t say in four months. Don’t say next year. Don’t say in another decade. Don’t say when things get better. Right now the harvest is ready. Lost people are everywhere. They are hurting. They are ready.

In the twenty-first century, the words that Jesus spoke two thousand years ago have never been truer than they are today. When the new millennium began, the earth had reached a population of six billion people. Statisticians say half of the people who have ever lived in human history are alive today. The continuous news stories from CNN or FOX News take the viewer to people and events around the globe in real time. The lives and struggles of the earth’s inhabitants are not abstract ideas but concrete, visible realities. Modern Christians in the West have no delusions about the fact of the world’s pain. It is as Jesus saw it. People are everywhere, and they are hurting. And they are ready for the gospel. The harvest truly is plentiful.

You need to know that there is great need to advance the kingdom of God. The Cooperative Program is not merely “fund-raising” for denominational programs. It is a lifeline for the most important enterprise in the world. It makes a difference.

This column is the first of four adapted from “One Sacred Effort” by Chad Brand and David Hankins. Copyright 2005. Used with permission. All rights reserved.