Investments with an eternal return

by Elizabeth Brown

Followers of Christ understand that cooperation is good. God intends our witness to be corporate as well as individual. What we do together in relationship is a powerful witness to the greatness of God. Our desire as Brethren in Christ in North America is to be an outward focused group of Christ followers who earnestly worship and obey God and cross boundaries to other communities, cultures and countries to reach lost people for Jesus. This is the focus of Cooperative Ministries.

Within the Brethren in Christ Church, we use the term “cooperative ministries” to describe the work that we do together as the BIC beyond our local congregations.  It is also the name we give to the dollars that we collect at the local church and send on to the General Church to help fund our shared commitments. Cooperative Ministries is neither a tax on churches nor a membership fee. Participation is entirely voluntary, and for the majority of BIC churches, is an appreciated opportunity to be a part of ministry goals with a national and international reach in a cost effective manner.  As congregations pool time, talents, and treasure in common purpose, God is able to do much more than we could do as individual churches. In His economy, the outcome is always greater than the sum of the parts. A little becomes a lot and He is glorified in the process.

The ministry expenditures focus on three ministry priority areas. There is no hierarchy of importance among the three, as all are important to our ongoing health and mission as a church and all are worthy of our significant financial investment.

The first category is leadership and leadership development. There are currently 301 BIC churches in the United States and Canada, which vary greatly in size and age and health. Each one of these churches has a least one pastor, mentored at least in part by the bishops and other General Church leaders.  From equipping to credentialing for ministry, to providing a ready supply of resources for effective ministry, our Cooperative Ministries dollars help fund opportunities for pastors, church planters, and missionaries to develop in their ministries. We believe that to share the gospel effectively, the BIC Church must maintain an effective denominational structure that provides vision, guidance and support. Strong leadership is foundational to strong ministry. This is true of the local congregation as well, where the spending ratio of personnel to programs is similar to that of the GC.

The second area of ministry emphasis is starting and supporting healthy congregations. With new congregations being launched in Canada and the US, ours is truly a church on the move. It takes money for start up costs – to do studies and build awareness. Some of the funds for new church plants are generated within regional conferences and some comes through Cooperative Ministries.

Even as we plant new churches, we are giving attention to the care and encouragement of long-standing churches. Our goal is to provide resources and services that assist congregations in realizing the Spirit empowered church life that God intends. We want every one of our more than churches to be alive, dynamic and fruitful, and that is why a significant portion of Cooperative Ministries is allocated toward that goal.

Our third ministry priority is world missions. We Brethren in Christ take the Great Commission very seriously. Ours may be a small denomination, but we are making a huge world wide impact for Christ as we focus on reaching the least reached peoples of the world in partnership with BIC conferences worldwide.  It is wonderful to report that we our goal of 100 missionaries mobilized and in place by 2010 is well within reach. The momentum is being fueled by efforts on the part of the BICWM team to reach out to young adults, challenging them to take the next step with God, either in active service, or active involvement through their prayers and finances. 

The General Church offices are located in Grantham, Pa. in a modest building located adjacent to the entrance to Messiah College. This building provides office space for the General Church leaders (moderator and general secretary), the World Missions office team, the communications and stewardship departments and the BIC Foundation. The total accounting function of the General Church – handling of all funds, fundraising, paying bills, issuing receipts, a yearly audit, legal fees, the entire computer network, software – takes only about 4% of the total budget. Our Cooperative Ministries dollars are handled very carefully, with great integrity and at minimum cost.

Cooperative Ministries is truly a ministry mutual fund, enabling all of us to invest in a lot of different areas.  Each church that commits to Cooperative Ministries has a part in sustaining existing pastors and training new ones. Each church that sends funds to Cooperative Ministries is planting new churches. Each church that sends money to Cooperative Ministries has missionaries in the field. Each church that contributes to Cooperative Ministries has a part in saving souls for eternity. What a great investment!  You simply can’t beat the eternal return, and it’s not even subject to the whims of the stock market. What we do together does make a difference!

My own congregation, the Chambersburg BIC Church, has committed $92,500 to Cooperative Ministries for 2008. That means our church is providing 2.6% of the budgeted amount hoped for from congregations, and 1.9% of the total budget. To help put that into perspective, Chambersburg is one of only thirteen churches Brethren in Christ churches in the USA that has an average attendance of over 300 people. We are also an older established church, well beyond scraping by to take care of basic need, and that means we have more discretionary funds available for ministry beyond ourselves. We are somewhat like an older parent, or grandparent. Our “house” is almost totally paid for and we have other investments as well.  We have no real NEEDS and most of our “wants” are also a reality. We are well able to watch out for and help care for the younger ones among us. 

I recently heard a true story of a family that had two children going to the same college.  The young man was a standout basketball player, over six feet tall, well built, and strong. The younger sister suffered from a rare condition and topped out at a mere 48 inches. The brother was very protective of his frail sister and was often seen walking her to class. When commended for his care for his sister, he simply commented, “Those that God made six and a half feet tall have a responsibility to watch out for those God made four feet tall”.

Together, with the enablement and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, much can be accomplished through BIC Cooperative Ministries.