News / Education
LifeWay offering envelopes reinforce ‘Every Number Has a Story’
Cooperative Program backbone to Southern Baptists' ministry and missions
"The Cooperative Program accelerated during the Great Depression, a time when it should have disappeared. Instead, it brought churches together," said Ben Stroup, coordinator of the offering envelope service for LifeWay Christian Stores.
Stroup said there is concern that younger Southern Baptists are less informed about the impact of the Cooperative Program than previous generations who faithfully supported the effort.
"Many church members, or maybe even most church members, have no idea what the Cooperative Program is, and more importantly, who it reaches," said John Kyle, director of Cooperative Program Development.
At the 2007 Southern Baptist Convention in San Antonio, the Executive Committee launched a new campaign to raise awareness about the Cooperative Program called "Every Number Has a Story." Statistics are assigned a message meant to communicate the breadth and reach of the ministry of Southern Baptists through the Cooperative Program. For example:
-- 2,778 – The number of endorsed Southern Baptist chaplains who last year led 9,954 people to Christ.
-- 3.5 million – The number of meals fed to the hungry in 2007through Southern Baptist hunger ministries in North America.
-- 609,968 – The number of overseas baptisms in 2007 reported by the International Mission Board.
-- 1,238 – The number of homes and buildings repaired in 2007 by disaster relief volunteers.
To support the Executive Committee’s efforts, the LifeWay’s offering envelope service debuted the "Every Number has a Story" envelope series. Each offering envelope carries a different number and picture that reinforces the impact of the Cooperative Program in addition to the church’s custom information. The envelopes may be distributed individually in bulletins and pews, in boxed sets or sent directly to homes of church members through a mailing program.
"It is our hope that the envelopes will begin to reseed the vision and highlight the fruit of our cooperative missions and ministries in the hearts of Southern Baptists across the country," said Kyle.
"Giving is an outward sign of an inward commitment," said Stroup. "People want to contribute to something larger than themselves and there is no better denominational effort on the market.
"Further," Stroup said, "young adults today are two generations removed from the people who launched the Cooperative Program. No one is telling them the CP story. If more people understood the Kingdom impact of the Cooperative Program, they would see it as the most effective long-term, sustainable strategy to accomplish the Great Commission."
Stroup hopes this offering envelope series will also relieve pastors of the pressure of building support for the program through one special-emphasis Sunday a year.
"This is our pew strategy," said Stroup. "The ‘Every Number Has a Story’ series is really a grassroots effort to keep the ministry – and the fruit – of the Cooperative Program consistently in front of church members throughout the year and to educate younger Southern Baptists on the Kingdom impact they have around the world as their church participates in this effort."
The "Every Number Has a Story" offering envelope series is an exclusive LifeWay resource and may be ordered at http://envelopes.lifewaystores.com/ or by calling 1-800-874-6319.
For up-to-date news and information from LifeWay Christian Resources, go to www.lifeway.com/news.
