Many Southern Baptists have spent the better part of two years discussing the Great Commission Resurgence through blogs, podcasts, newspaper articles, and live listening sessions. A number were quite passionate in their viewpoints. More than 11,000 of our 16 million members even made their way down to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Orlando in June so that they could vote either for or against the national task force’s various recommendations.

The discussion on the convention floor was passionate as well. Only after an amendment was approved to strengthen the report to more fully embrace and support the Cooperative Program did the scales tip heavily in favor of approval.

The GCR discussion has served to educate many about the extensive nature of Southern Baptist work across local, regional, national and international lines. I always felt that one of the great benefits of the GCR discussion — even if it became a little too heated at times in some quarters and even if some information got a bit distorted — was that it got Baptists focused on and learning about the Cooperative Program. I feel sure that whatever their individual opinion may be about one particular allocation or another, those Baptists who engaged in the GCR discussion left it better informed and generally more appreciative of this highly effective way of cooperatively supporting missions and ministry work.

And yet, in the weeks following the SBC, it has becoming increasingly obvious to me that we still have a long, long way to go in educating our churches both about the GCR and the great tool that Baptists have in the Cooperative Program. As I have the opportunity to meet and talk to Baptists in my own state, it’s pretty apparent that outside of the pastors, DOMs and denominational workers, very few Southern Baptists even know what the GCR is.  And not many more really understand the Cooperative Program with much clarity.

Understandably, the focus of most Baptists in the pews is on the ministries of their local church. They give — and in many cases give generously — to their local church and to the missions offerings. But unless the GCR or CP is something their pastor talks about specifically and on a regular basis, they don’t often know or understand the details.

That’s why I want to encourage all readers who may be pastors or church leaders to take the time to educate your congregations about the Cooperative Program. Please don’t assume that even your most senior and long-term members understand what it’s all about.

Doing so really is easy. Great materials abound. Kentucky Baptists can have materials sent to their church at no charge simply by ordering online at www.kybaptist.org/cpmissions. Most other state conventions have similar sites where information is available. CP material is also available from the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee at www.cpmissions.com.

And follow up on ordering the materials by taking time to talk about the Cooperative Program, our various denominational structures and about GCR. Plan times on Wednesday or Sunday night or at some other appropriate time in your church to emphasize our cooperative work. The SBC promotes a CP Sunday each April but church members need to hear about CP more than just once a year if they are to ever have a solid and productive understanding of the ways we work together to further the Gospel.

These may seem like very simple suggestions but this kind of education is essential. In the end, it won’t matter how the CP pie is divided if the support for it is no longer there in our churches. It won’t matter if percentages are divided 50-50 between the states and SBC or if 100 percent goes to your own favorite entity because 100 percent of  0 is 0.

I personally believe that as CP goes, so goes the GCR. And on both of these counts, we’ve got to close a big awareness and knowledge gap for a large percentage of Southern Baptists.

–Robert Reeves