Guest post by Dr. Paul Chitwood, Executive Director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention 

 At our dinner table last night, our 13-year-old guest turned to me and asked abruptly, “Do you know why I’m glad my sister is here?” Our guest comes to visit once a week. She is working her way through a residential treatment program, trying to recover from years of abuse and neglect. The question caught me off guard and, knowing at least some of what she and her little sister have endured, I wasn’t sure what she would say next, but I wanted her to understand she was free to say whatever was on her mind.

I simply replied, “No. Why are you glad?”

Her sister was three when she came into the care of Sunrise Children’s Services, the James 1:27 ministry of Kentucky Baptists. Fueled by the Cooperative Program, Sunrise ministers to more than 1,000 hurting kids in Kentucky. With more than 8,000 kids in our state’s care, Kentucky Baptists feel we are only scratching the surface even though we are the largest private provider.

When Sunrise contacted us about a three-year-old, my wife Michelle and I were a little hesitant. We had been foster parents for a teenage boy for a year, and, although he had recently been placed with another family, three-year-olds had never been on our radar. With two kids in college and one heading into middle school, a three-year-old didn’t seem like a “good fit.” But the scriptural mandate to care for orphans doesn’t say much about which kids fit our life-stage or lifestyle, so we took the plunge.

Now, at our dinner table, her 13-year-old sister is about to break my heart even thought I don’t know it yet.

“I’m glad she’s here because I’m glad she has a father.”

I knew our foster daughter had no memory of a father, so I wasn’t all that surprised when, in a matter of hours, she was calling me daddy. But what broke my heart was the 13-year-old celebrating that her little sister now has a father even though she doesn’t.

These two precious girls are among the 400,000 kids in foster care in the US. Thanks to CP ministries like Sunrise, many of those kids are finding foster homes and some are finding forever families. I’d call that relevant.

How relevant is the CP funding model in fueling Southern Baptist missions and ministries? I believe it is not only relevant; I believe CP is essential and irreplaceable.

If CP disappeared today, so would a significant portion of the ministries and mission work of Southern Baptists. Even the ministries and mission work that somehow managed to continue to exist would be significantly crippled. Let me explain why.

While the recent financial struggles of the International Mission Board have been widely reported, the loss of CP would mean a reduction of approximately $100 million, more than a third of the IMB’s annual budget. The loss of that much of the fuel that sends Southern Baptist missionaries to the ends of the earth would be eternally devastating.

The loss of CP would mean a reduction of approximately $50 million for the North American Mission Board. What would that do to NAMB’s capacity to fuel church planting in SEND cities or Southern Baptist Disaster Relief response to flood victims in West Virginia and Louisiana, fire victims in California, and hurricane victims along the coasts?

Since the ministry of the Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission is almost exclusively funded by CP, without it, Southern Baptists would lose their voice in Washington. And the resources that ERLC provides to help pastors address issues like religious liberty, human trafficking, racism, and abortion would no longer exist since those resources are paid for by CP.

What of the approximately 17,000 students currently enrolled in SBC seminaries? Without CP, their tuition and fees climb 30%-50%. That’s a tough blow for missionary candidates who need to be debt free to get appointed or pastors on tight budgets sacrificing to get formal training for ministry. A seminary with no CP fuel becomes a terribly expensive ride.

Without the fuel of CP, most of the significant ministries and mission work of Southern Baptists’ state conventions would come to a screeching halt. In the Kentucky Baptist Convention, that would mean Disaster Relief would be no more. Our annual retreat to encourage and strengthen ministry couples, known as Shepherding, simply wouldn’t happen. The evangelism training and church revitalization consulting that has helped contribute to growth in baptisms and overall church membership for two straight years in Kentucky, with no CP, would be no more.

If CP disappeared, the nearly 15,000 students who show up at our summer camps, called Crossings Ministries, would surely be disappointed and God would no longer use the gospel preaching at camp to win hundreds of kids to Christ each year. Without CP, the 1,000-plus hurting kids being loved and cared for by Sunrise may still suffer the pain of ongoing abuse, hunger, and neglect. Our educational institutions in Kentucky, which currently allow us to disciple and equip over 8,000 students, would, in some cases, be shuttered and, in other cases, see tuition hikes that would put them out of reach of far too many students.

On and on goes the negative impact that the loss of CP would have upon God’s Kingdom work in the states, our nation, and the world.

Thankfully, the essential and irreplaceable fuel of CP is still flowing! Southern Baptists still believe in cooperation and still give sacrificially to fund missions and ministries through CP.

Here in Kentucky, for two straight years, CP giving has grown. And, for the first time in a decade, our churches exceeded the CP budget this year. At the same time, Kentucky Baptists are digging deeper for other missions offerings, setting new records in giving through both the Lottie Moon Offering for International Missions and the Annie Armstrong Offering for North American Missions.

The omnipotent God wants for no resource. He will accomplish His purposes without any dependence upon Southern Baptists. But thankfully God is choosing to use Southern Baptists to share the life-giving message of the gospel and build the eternal church of Jesus Christ. In Southern Baptist cooperative missions and ministries, God has provided the Cooperative Program as the fuel to accomplish His purposes. CP is not only relevant, it is essential and irreplaceable.

And, in a very real way, CP provided a safe place for our three-year-old foster daughter to escape abuse and neglect. For me, it’s a reminder that, though we use words like “cooperation,” “missions,” and “ministries,” CP makes a difference in the lives of real people with real hurts and real needs. And we, as Southern Baptists, are working cooperatively to provide the help and hope of Christ to them. How relevant is the Cooperative Program funding model in fueling SBC missions and ministries? Innumerable people, whether orphans who have been rescued from abuse or lost adults who have been saved through the power of the gospel, would tell you it is altogether relevant.