Update on GCR

I've been in favor of a Great Commission Resurgence since the Spring when Danny Akin, Alvin Reid, and Johnny Hunt really began talking it up. Putting more emphasis on the Great Commission is a good thing. As the months have passed and the task force was assembled and meetings held across the country, I've noticed something that disturbs me. The emphasis seems to be on the Cooperative Program while using the words "Great Commission."

The Cooperative Program (CP) is the way Southern Baptists cooperate to fund missions and ministry around the world. Our church gives 10% of our undesignated receipts to CP. This amount goes to our state convention. Of our CP dollars, about 58% stays in Arkansas and the other 42% goes to the national convention where it is disbursed to agencies and boards of the SBC. The convention's six seminaries get part of the money. The International and North American Mission Boards get part fo the money. The training of our young ministers and our support of missionaries world-wide are the most important aspects of CP.

If Southern Baptists want to fulfill the Great Commission, we will be more successful working together and pooling our resources. CP and GC are not synonymous but CP directly impacts GC. It seems that the leaders of the Great Commission Resurgence focus more on CP and less on GC.

A Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) should emphasize reaching the lost whever they are on the planet. A Cooperative Program Resurgence (CPR) should emphasize our stewardship of resources to accomplish the GC.

We need CPR to accomplish GCR. But the two are different issues. Interrelated, but different. Would anybody be against a GCR? Malcolm Yarnell asked that question in response to Johnny Hunt's tweet. Hunt was replying to a story that IMB shortfalls could affect 600 positions. He said, "Why would anyone still oppose a GCR?" GCR and funding are related but not the same thing.

I want to see our churches impact eternity by getting more serious about the Great Commission. In order to do that effectively, we need CPR. But one shouldn't use GCR to rally support for his desire to change. CP.

Again, GCR does not equal CPR. In fact, GCR is not exactly GC.