Whether you call the Cooperative Program of the Southern Baptist Convention a sacred cow or a cash cow, both can cause a corporate lethargy that results in loss of mission. On the one hand, the sacred cow is basically untouchable. Nobody wants to tread the sanctied ground of something so revered. This particular sacred cow, the Cooperative Program, is a known quantity that has worked effectively for generations. Beyond that, it is the distinguishing mark of a mission enterprise admired among all denominational entities, enabling Southern Baptists to do some things that are the dream of other religious bodies. Through this God-inspired giving plan our 42,000 local congregations fund a global missions enterprise, six of the finest theological seminaries in the world, and other agencies and institutions that influence houses around the country, from the White House to my house. If it is sacred, it is only because it has been an efficient funding strategy for a long time.
Then there is the cash cow Cooperative Program. It provides a continuous flow of funding for the mission enterprise of our denomination. Yes, there have been peaks and valleys. You see, the CP depends on the voluntary contributions of local congregations. So, there are seasonal and cyclical fluctuations that cause ups and downs along the way, adjustments dictated by economic conditions and other factors. Still, since 1925 the Cooperative Program has been a consistent and reliable source of funding for those things valued by our churches. If it is a cash cow, it is because it has been one way to guarantee missionaries and students and denominational servants compensation when economies respond to market conditions or the whims of local churches change.
Both can be detrimental to the mission. Sacred cows are worshiped. Well, duh? That's the whole idea. Sometimes the sacred cow is elevated to iconic status and becomes more important than anything else related to the mission, even the deity associated with the assignment. As an idol, the sacred cow is untouchable. When the means assumes a status greater than the end, this is a problem. Further, it means that even something as fruitful and effective as the Cooperative Program can become stale and outmoded because it cannot be approached or questioned or evaluated or improved.
In the same way, cash cows are typically taken for granted. The funding stream is so steady and affluent that the organization benefiting from it has little impetus to discover new ones or explore new avenues of support. The cash cow is the ultimate box and recipients are happy to operate within it for as long as the spigot flows. So, operating systems become stagnant in the comfort of revenues that continue no matter what. If the cash cow is good enough---you know, like the government---you eventually have to invent new spending categories to absorb all the funding. This is mission diversion. Not good, either.
The Cooperative Program has become both sacred cow and cash cow. This does not mean, however, that it should be scrapped. Our noble evangelical work has been funded for many years through the genius of this giving plan. The effectiveness of this voluntary plan is threatened today because of the mission sensitive negatives of it's inviolability as a sacred cow and it's assumed reliability as a cash cow. In some quarters it has become the acid test of fellowship within our ranks. In others, it is the taken-for-granted assumption of a system that needs evaluation.
The Great Commission Resurgence calls us to review and update this giving strategy, not scrap it. Genuine assessment will examine the entire system and discover in it the resources to continue those things commissioned by God, the agencies and institutions, at every level of Southern Baptist life, that are central to our Kingdom assignment. And, to accomplish this mission more effectively, more efficiently, and with greater glory to God.
Not less.
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