MEMPHIS (BP) — The Ellis Auditorium was brand new May 13, 1925, when Southern Baptists met on a spring afternoon and voted to begin the Cooperative Program (CP). Today (May 13), though the auditorium is gone, Southern Baptists gathered just a few yards away from the original location to recommit to cooperative partnership.

“The Cooperative Program, while commonplace to us, was a never-before-attempted method of funding shared ministry and mission efforts,” Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Executive Committee (EC) Jeff Iorg said in the keynote address to the group.

Dozens of Southern Baptist pastors and leaders gathered to sign a Declaration of Cooperation, just as SBC leaders did to mark the 50^th anniversary in 1975.

“My appeal today is to reaffirm our commitment to cooperation and the Cooperative Program in its simplest form — a shared funding mechanism for state and regional conventions and the national Convention to substantially provide the funding needed for all our work,” Iorg said.

“We should do this for many biblical, theological and methodological reasons — but mostly for this very practical, proven reason — it works!”

Seventy-three pastors, national SBC leaders, state convention leaders and ethnic leaders gathered to sign the document that thanked local churches for a century of generosity and commended “all who promote, support, and renew their commitment to the Cooperative Program among our family of churches, mission boards, seminaries, entities, local Baptist associations, and state conventions.”

Before 1925, Southern Baptist churches gave to missionary, evangelistic and educational endeavors based on individual pleas by organizational or societal representatives. Each church gave what it deemed best, leaving fundraisers constantly scrambling to make their pitch and churches feeling the pressure of constant requests.

In 1919, Southern Baptists agreed to a five-year campaign to raise $75 million dollars to fund these missionary endeavors. While the pledges came in at $92,630,923, the actual giving by 1924 fell short at $58,591,713.

It was the next year that a group led by Louisiana pastor M.E. Dodd brought the idea of the Cooperative Program to the annual meeting and messengers adopted it. Southern Baptist calls for a systematic method of giving dates all the way back to 1888.

Dodd pastored First Baptist Church (FBC) Shreveport, Louisiana, from 1912 until his retirement in 1950. He is known in Southern Baptist history as one of the greatest promoters of the Cooperative Program in its early years, rallying hundreds of churches to cooperate.

The pulpit Dodd preached from at FBC Shreveport from 1925-1950 was shared by the Northeast Louisiana Baptist Association for today’s gathering.

To stand at Dodd’s pulpit was special for South Carolina Baptist Convention Executive Director Tony Wolfe, who spearheaded the event.

“It’s very meaningful, not just for me, but I think for everybody who steps up to that pulpit and signs this Declaration of Cooperation,” Wolfe said. 

He hopes for a renewal of “unity and purpose” for Southern Baptists, as M.E. Dodd said in 1925.

SBC Registration Secretary Don Currence said he fought tears as he prepared to sign the declaration.

“It was a very humbling experience,” said Currence. “It’s a day I’ll never forget.”

Other platform guests included International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood, Texas pastor Caleb Turner and Baptist Convention of New England Executive Director Tony Dorsett.

Turner, pastor of Mesquite Friendship Baptist Church, told Baptist Press, “We are invested in the Cooperative Program because we wouldn’t be where we are today without what we receive through the Cooperative Program.”

Mesquite started as a church plant in 1991.

“From the very beginning we understood the importance of receiving. And so therefore, because we’ve been blessed in such a way, we want to reciprocate that same thing,” he said.

Dorsett remembered the early days of the Cooperative Program and the challenges Southern Baptists faced in 1925.

He quoted South Carolina’s Charles E. Burts who spoke to messengers in 1925: “The difficulties we face are more than matched by the ability of our people to meet them if we approach them in faith, prayer, courage and sacrifice.”

A season of prayer for churches and pastors, SBC entities and state conventions was led by April Bunn, Chuck Lawless, Carolyn Fountain, Bruno Molina, Hoon Im and Hershael York.

Committed to the Great Commission

Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director-treasurer of the Woman’s Missionary Union, signed the declaration on behalf of the organization.

“You know, as Southern Baptists, we have one thing that unites us at the core, and that is our responsibility to take the gospel to the ends of the earth,” she told Baptist Press. “The Great Commission is urgent, and it’s a priority for us as Southern Baptists.”

Through the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists have 3,500 fully-funded missionaries across every continent, help support 600 church plants annually and help train thousands of seminary students for the purposes of spreading Jesus’ message and making disciples.

International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood pointed the gathering to another gathering found in Revelation 7 where God’s people from every tribe and nation will lift their voices in praise to God.

“Thank you, Lord, for letting us be a part of the vision coming to pass,” Chitwood prayed to close the event. “Thank you for a people called Southern Baptists, who for 180 years have worked together to steward that vision and who for 100 years have given generously through the Cooperative Program to steward that vision.

“Lord, might you find us, in our generation, faithful stewards of this vision, giving generously to see that missionaries are sent and supported, that the gospel is preached and that the lost are saved.”

Committed to generosity

Since the inception of the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists have given more than $20 billion nationally to support missions, seminary education, church planting, disaster relief, public policy work and more.

“The Great Commission is why we cooperate,” SBC President Clint Pressley, pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, told Baptist Press. “We have to cooperate to accomplish what we’re all trying to do together.”

N.C. Baptist Executive Director-Treasurer Todd Unzicker was among the ministry leaders from North Carolina who attended the event. Other attendees from North Carolina included: Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President Danny Akin; Baptist State Convention of North Carolina President Allen Murray; Ronnie Parrot, pastor of Christ Community Church in Huntersville; and Kyler Smith, senior associate pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte.

“One hundred years ago, a group of leaders came together to solve a problem in their day and explore the best way to reach the lost, send church planters, train up the next generation and serve churches and communities,” Unzicker told the Biblical Recorder. “Today, we celebrate God’s faithfulness and all that has been accomplished this past century. May we continue to ask the Holy Spirit for bold and innovative ways to be on mission together in demonstrating and declaring the hope we have in Jesus.”

Murray said it was “amazing to see” the Cooperative Program’s impact.

“A century ago Southern Baptists committed to an idea: churches can do more together than they ever can apart,” Murray told the Biblical Recorder. “Now today at the CP anniversary, we watched Southern Baptists from all walks of convention life reaffirm that reality. We truly can do more together than we ever can on our own.

“It has been amazing to see how the Cooperative Program has empowered local churches to work towards fulfilling the Great Commission for 100 years — millions of Baptists and $20 billion being used by the Lord. It’s my prayer that as we work together, we work ourselves out of a job. May it be as Dr. Chitwood prayed today that we see the Great Commission fulfilled in this generation.”

The celebration took place just weeks before the 2025 SBC annual meeting in Dallas, which is scheduled for June 12-13.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Brandon Porter serves as vice president for communications at the SBC Executive Committee. This story has been updated to include information about attendees from North Carolina.)