In February, associational leaders from across Alabama gathered at Shocco Springs in Talladega. Pine trees framed the roads. Long-standing friendships were renewed over coffee and conversations outside of the “new” bookstore. There is something fitting about discussing cooperation in a place designed for retreat and reflection. It reminds you that partnership is not just a theory or an idea. It is a lived reality.

It was there that Jeff Iorg, president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, delivered a clear and compelling appeal. His message was not flashy. It was not built around new ideas or the next big thing. It was built around mission and measurable results that we can actually examine. He made a case for cooperation.

Dr. Iorg acknowledged what many feel, but few say out loud. Cooperation can seem ordinary. It lacks the sparkle of the next innovative ministry model or the excitement of a new initiative that feels personally connected to one’s own congregation. Churches naturally drift toward what is close, relational and visible. It can even venture into things that are excellent missional opportunities but lack that cooperative element. That drift isn’t intentionally bad. It is human. But he cautioned that the drift toward silos comes at a cost.

For churches to decide to give, serve and fellowship together, we must continually resist the tendency to retreat into self-contained ministry worlds. Autonomy is a treasured Baptist conviction. Yet autonomy does not require isolation. The genius of Baptist life has always been this paradox: free churches, voluntarily cooperating. When churches form what Dr. Iorg described as a collaborative ecosystem, the results are undeniable.

What God Has Done, He Continues Through Our Cooperation

Consider the past century. Southern Baptists have established 42 state conventions across the nation. We have helped launch at least 80 colleges and universities. We have built hundreds of camps and retreat centers. We have supported retirement communities, publishing houses, hospitals (we are connected with five hospitals here in the BMBA), orphanages and children’s homes. We have founded six seminaries that train pastors, missionaries and ministry leaders for service across the globe. Some of our readers went to those seminaries! Through our shared giving, we sustain thousands of missionaries – including their families and children – in some of the hardest places on earth. Those are not theoretical accomplishments. They are measurable outcomes of cooperation.

Dr. Iorg stated plainly, “Cooperation can seem boring because we long for the next new thing or something that has a relational connection to our church. However, walking away isn’t wise when we look at the data of what we’ve accomplished together.” That line deserves reflection. Walking away is easy. Building together is harder. Yet the evidence stands. When we look at the data – not sentiment, not speculation, but actual impact – the story is clear.

The Cooperative Program, since 1925, administered in partnership with state conventions and national entities such as the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board, allows churches of every size to participate in global mission. A small congregation in a rural community cannot independently fund a missionary family serving in a restricted-access nation. But through cooperation, that same church becomes part of something far larger than itself. Dr. Iorg put it memorably: “A small church could never fund a missionary family in a hard place across the seas, but we can do big things like that from little places when we partner together.”

There is deep theological resonance in that statement. The kingdom of God has always advanced through seemingly small beginnings. A mustard seed. Five loaves and two fish. A handful of churches pooling resources across counties and states.

Dr. Iorg shared a personal turning point. “I became a card-carrying believer in the work of the IMB when I saw how they were able to care for a missionary family that faced a seemingly insurmountable crisis. An independent missionary would have probably not received the kind of support this IMB family received. It was proof to me that shared success was caring well for our missionaries and their families.”

That testimony reframes cooperation. It is not merely about strategy. It is about stewardship and shepherding. Missionaries do not just need funding. They need crisis care, counseling, logistical support and a network strong enough to sustain them when adversity strikes. Cooperation provides that safety net.

Large churches can accomplish remarkable things on their own. They often have the staffing, financial resources and influence to fund major initiatives independently. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. Yet even the largest congregation becomes part of something more beautiful when it chooses to cooperate rather than operate alone. When churches of different sizes, cultures and contexts partner together, the result is not uniformity. It is unity. It is a family resemblance across diversity.

Why would we ever want to leave smaller congregations out of something as grand as reaching the nations? Why would we want global impact to be reserved only for those with the largest budgets? Cooperation democratizes mission. It says that a church of fifty members matters just as much in the advance of the Gospel as a church of five thousand.

And that shared vision aligns with the picture of Revelation 7:9 – a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne. No single congregation fulfills that vision alone. But together, cooperating churches can move toward it with conviction.

Dr. Iorg was careful to note that cooperation is not broken. In a polarized and divided culture, voluntary partnership among autonomous churches is itself a testimony. When churches choose to work together for global impact, they push back against the narrative of fragmentation that defines much of the modern world. Cooperation is countercultural!

It requires humility. It requires patience. It requires resisting the allure of independence for independence’s sake. But when cooperation is strong, something remarkable happens. As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats. Healthy partnership strengthens local associations, state conventions, national entities and ultimately the churches themselves.

The case for cooperation is not nostalgic. It is historically validated. The work before us is to improve, not to invent, a model. It is to strengthen the one that has borne such fruit. When churches give faithfully through their local associations and the Cooperative Program, they are not funding an idea. They are fueling mission.

Cooperation may not always feel spectacular. It may not trend on social media. But it builds seminaries, sustains missionaries, trains pastors, shelters children, cares for retirees and advances the Gospel to the ends of the earth. The case for cooperation stands.

Dr. Chris Crain serves as executive director of the Birmingham Metro Baptist Association.