Enhancing Cooperation

Cooperation is challenging because of differing viewpoints, diverse backgrounds, and the problems that inevitably arise during collaboration. Within the Southern Baptist Convention, where cooperation is central, these challenges are particularly pronounced. Differing perspectives on worship styles, preaching methods, and mission strategies can lead to tensions among church leaders. Additionally, cultural diversity, whether in age, ethnicity, or generational dynamics, adds another layer of complexity to cooperation.

However, despite these challenges, cooperation also presents enriching opportunities for growth and unity. Learning to navigate and appreciate diversity can lead to deeper relationships and more meaningful collaboration. By embracing differing perspectives and working through disagreements in a spirit of love and mutual respect, church leaders can overcome obstacles to cooperation and contribute more effectively to the overarching mission of spreading the gospel.

Creators and Guests

Host

Jeff Iorg

President, SBC Executive Committee

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Enhancing Cooperation – Lead On Podcast

Welcome to the Lead On Podcast. This is Jeff Iorg, the president of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, talking with you once again about practical issues related to ministry leadership. If you're new to the podcast, this podcast is about the day-to-Day work of ministry leaders, particularly church leaders. Uh, I'm not a, I'm not using this podcast as a preaching platform or a denominational politics platform or anything like that. I started this podcast years ago with the goal of talking to church leaders about what it really is like in the week to week work of trying to do ministry, grow churches, uh, lead organizations, and make a difference in God's kingdom. And so we're going to keep on that focus in my new role here at the executive committee. I still want to keep talking to church leaders and see if I can keep fulfilling this niche of trying to help you with practical issues related to ministry leadership.

So today I want to talk about one that does overlap somewhat with my work here at the executive committee. And that is I want to talk about the importance of cooperation and of working together as church leaders. Cooperation is really at the center of what it means to be a Southern Baptist. We have, after all, something called the cooperative program, which is at the center of all that we do, uh, not only financially, but in our overall work as well. But I'm not talking today about the cooperative program that's an outgrowth of, or an expression of cooperation. I want to talk about the principle of cooperation itself. Why is it important for a church leader to work with others? Why is it better to have some brothers and sisters, some fellow churches, some larger organizations like denominational gatherings, and even entities that are formed by those gatherings? Why is it better to cooperate, to work together, to get things done rather than to just go it alone?

Well, today, let's talk about that. I think cooperation is important because of something I call the economy of impact. Now, in the business world, it's often referred to as economy of scale, meaning that the larger you're able to scale up your operation, the more economies you discover, which make it possible for you to have a greater profit margin and also to make a greater impact with the product that you're trying to sell or deliver economy of scale. Well, I've translated that over into the ministry area. I call it economy of impact. And that is the more you're able to pool your efforts, the greater the impact you're going to make. And we see that evidenced very clearly in Southern Baptist life by coming together and cooperating. Look what we are able to accomplish. Friends Southern Baptists are a force for good. We have, by cooperating, put about 3,500 missionaries in the field who are serving today.

And those missionaries are serving fully funded. They receive salary, their medical care is provided, their transportation, their housing, the resources they need to do their ministries. That's all provided because we cooperate, because we cooperate. We're, we're planting hundreds of new churches every year across North America. We're getting that done in every kind of community, in every kind of context, planting new churches, because we cooperate, we're able to have 20,000 students. Can you imagine that number? 20,000 students on seminary campuses across our sixth seminary system? To put that in perspective, of the 270 accredited seminaries in North America by the Association of Theological Schools, six of the 10 largest are Southern Baptists. And when you add the six together, we have about 16% of all seminary students in the country, just in our schools economy of impact. And that doesn't even talk about our publishing house, our financial services, uh, uh, company, our ethics and religious liberty advocacy.

It, it, it doesn't really even touch on those other areas of our work. When you think about our missionaries and our seminaries, wow, economy of impact, Southern Baptists are a force for good. And we have come together to make all of these things I've just described possible. And I want to make it even more personal. I've said for many years that my former, uh, responsibility president of Gateway Seminary, I've said for many years that Gateway Seminary only exists because of two reasons. Number one, the grace of God, and number two, the cooperative work of Southern Baptist. You know, when Gateway started in 1944 in the West, there were only a handful of Southern Baptist churches. And quite frankly, from the forties all the way through the rest of the 20th century, there were not that many Southern Baptist churches in the West. Now they're burgeoning these days and growing in many places, but it's been a long, slow process.

If we were only depending on Southern Baptist in the West to create Gateway Seminary, it would likely have never happened. There just weren't enough resources. But because we cooperate, because we cooperate, we've been able to build such a magnificent seminary on the West coast and to facilitate and fuel the growth and development of Southern Baptist work across that region. Now, that's just my most personal example. Uh, if there was a different leader on this podcast today from a different entity, they would probably be able to tell you the similar story of how the cooperative program and the cooperative efforts of Southern Baptist have helped produce their results as well. Listen, economy of impact. When we pool what we do, we are able to, with an eco, uh, an economic investment that is quite limited by each one of us individually, combine our efforts and make an impact that is incredible all around the world.

Well, cooperation, we're motivated to do it because of this economy of impact, possibility. But let's be honest, cooperation is challenging. There are things about it that are just difficult. What are some of those challenges? Well, the first one is that when you try to cooperate with people, you'll very quickly find that they have differing viewpoints on many issues. That is certainly the truth among Southern Baptists. We have many different viewpoints. Viewpoints on things like worship style, preaching style roles of leaders and responsibilities they should have. We have different viewpoints on the best, best methodologies for missions, for church planting, uh, the best kind of materials that should be produced and used in churches, even going down to Bible translations. We dis we disagree about those. There are many differing viewpoints. And then when you layer over that, the cultural dimensions and the diversity that comes when people from different backgrounds try to cooperate, it even gets more complicated.

So there are differing viewpoints that originate from all kinds of sources that make cooperation possible. People sometimes distance themselves from others and say, I can't cooperate. I don't want to be a part of that. I don't want to be associated with that because I don't like what they're doing. Cooperation is challenged by differing viewpoints. It's also, as I said, challenged by the diversity, uh, that we experience when we try to work together. Now, when I say diversity, I, I mean several things. It can be diversity of method, it can be diversity of approach, can be diversity caused by age or by, uh, generational tensions can also be diversity related to racial or ethnic di differences. Uh, all of these things make cooperation more challenging. You know, for many years I've been a member of a predominantly African American church. And for the last 20 years, I, I worked in an organization that had a student body that was a minority Anglo.

So I have worked and lived in con contexts and cultures that were very different from my own. And I've had to learn a lot about those cultures. And I've made mistakes along the way. I've had misunderstandings, uh, along the way, frankly, I've had some disagreements along the way with how people saw my work or saw the work that I was involved in or saw the work that we're trying to do cooperatively because of the perspective they brought from their background. There are challenges that come about to cooperation because of growing diversity. But let me tell you, the enriching aspect of that is o so much more meaningful. When you learn how to cooperate and really work together with brothers and sisters that are different than you, when you learn to listen to them, hear from them, when you develop enough relationship that you can speak back to them and have real honest dialogue, it is an enriching experience.

Some of my most meaningful cooperative relationships are now with people that I once had very differing perspectives and very challenging relationships. But to come to grips with our differences, to come to appreciate the unique perspectives we bring to the table, and to find a way in the love of God and in the spirit of Jesus Christ, to find a way to come together and say, for the good of God's kingdom and the overarching mission of getting the gospel to more people, we are going to cooperate, man, how refreshing that is, how refreshing that is. And so while diversity is a challenge to cooperation, it quite frankly becomes also one of the most enriching aspects of it when done well. And then a third challenge to cooperation are just the problems that we encounter while we're trying to cooperate. Oh, my, it doesn't take long when you're trying to work with some other group or some other group of churches.

Doesn't take long before something's going to go wrong. Uh, a pastor's going to go off on a tangent or develop a perspective that you don't agree with or propose a pro a process or a policy that you don't like. Or a professor at one of the schools that you're supporting is going to teach something or say something or write something that you find offensive or controversial or difficult, or some missionary somewhere is going to adopt a methodology that's going to offend you or make you upset or make you want things to change or be done differently. A church planter in your area is going to go off the rails and try some bold initiative that really backfires and causes you to have real question about whether you want to be cooperating with someone who's doing those things. And then of course, there's always the possibility of, of a moral or financial scandal coming about somewhere in the organizations that you're working with and cooperating to support. In fact, let me just say that all of these things I've just mentioned, they are an inevitable reality.

I can assure you today, because of the fallenness of humankind and because of the flawed nature of every organization, every human creates, sooner or later something's going to happen. Something's going to be said or done or written. Something's going to be decided or communicated. There's going to be some shortfalls, some shortcomings, some sinful action. It's going to happen. And so the problems that we face in an, in a group of people who are trying to cooperate are real. They, they aren't going away. They're going to be part of what it means to try to cooperate. And the part they play is giving us the, the opportunity to demonstrate love, humility, compassion, patience, and sometimes a willingness to set aside our own personal perspective for the greater good of what we're trying to accomplish together. And so I think cooperation is at the root of what makes us effective in Christian ministry and leadership.

I think Southern Baptists are a great model of cooperation because we understand the economy of impact that comes about when we cooperate. But I am very willing, uh, to admit there are some real challenges to doing this. We are challenged by different viewpoints. We are challenged by diversity. We are challenged by problems that are inevitably going to come up either in the processes or the policies, or actually the actions of the entities that result from our cooperation. So having said all that, what are the benefits of overcoming those challenges and of continuing to cooperate together? Well, the first one, of course goes back to the beginning of the podcast, and that is impact. Look at the difference you can make when you work together, impact when you come together and you do something that is so much greater than any one of us or any one of our churches can do on our own.

I know a few of you who listen to this podcast are in very large churches, and I'm grateful. I'm grateful God has given you that opportunity. But it doesn't matter how big your church is, are how much you're able to do on your own, or how many missionaries you can support, or how many students you can fund. You are not going to come anywhere near doing what we are all doing together as Southern Baptist. The impact we make when we cooperate is breathtaking. It's global. It's magnificent. It has created something that is unparalleled in global evangel evangelicalism. And I'm grateful to be a part of it. Impact is the first reason why you want to overcome the challenges and cooperate. Here's another one, relationships. When you cooperate and you really work hard at developing the relationships to make that happen, you will find those to be some of the most enriching relationships in your life. Without going into too much detail on this one, I'll, I'll just say that a few years ago, I had a situation arise that created some controversy in public controversy for me as a leader.

But when that was going on, friends reached out to me, friends from other ethnic groups, friends from other, uh, racial backgrounds, friends reached out to me and said, we understand the controversy. We also know you, we know your heart. We know the times we've spent together. We know what you stand for. And because we know you we're going to stand with you because we had a heritage of cooperating, of working together on missions and education and other projects. When a little trouble came, it was those relationships that sustained me and got me through the difficulty. Now, that was just one really dramatic moment for me. But I can tell you that the longer I've served in ministry, the thing that has become so important to me have been the relationships that I've developed along the way, the relationships with, uh, men and women, with leaders and church members who we had to work at it to develop the connection that we have.

We had to get over some of our different viewpoints, and we had to get past some of the diversity challenges. And occasionally we've had to confront and overcome some real problems that really hurt us in the work we were trying to do together. But we hung together clinging to those relationships. And those have become some of the most meaningful and some most enriching aspects of what it means for me to cooperate, knowing that I have people who share God's mission, who are willing to work together, who love me, who will set aside some of their differences of opinion with me, and who will stand with me to get the greater good accomplished man, that means so much to me. This expresses itself in so many ways. For lots of pastors and ministry leaders. It's their local association or their local group of pastors that are right around them.

For those who lead in state areas or in national areas, it becomes a broader footprint, if you will. But it's the relationships, the relationships that come out of a commitment to cooperate. They're one of the great benefits and give such an enriching aspect to our lives in this regard. And then another benefit that comes from cooperation are the resources that are available. It is a, it is staggering to me the resources that Southern Baptists have. In fact, there are so many resources that it's almost impossible for anyone to know how to access all of them. It is not uncommon for me to have someone walk up and say, you know, the IMB ought to do this, or Nam ought to do this, or the seminaries ought to do this, or someone ought to do this. And I think, you know, I'll bet someone's already doing that.

We just don't know about it yet because there's so many resources available that we can't even keep up with all that's out there that we can make use of in our ministry settings. And so I generally now say, well, let's find out if that's available before we go ask someone else to do it. And quite often it is so many resources, resources to help with everything from sending out mission teams to how to do a vacation bible school, to what to do when sexual abuse happens in your context, and how to reach out and get help in those important areas. All kinds of resources available through denominational entities, your association, your state convention, your national convention, and the entities that they all re re represent, like the state foundations, uh, state children's homes, uh, with, uh, camps and other resources that are available through those means.

And then national entities that, you know, all of them that provide all the kinds of services that we have, the resources that we have available to us. And what's really great about them is that the resources are coming from people that we know we trust, who understand our work, and really are tailored to our way of thinking about life and ministry and the work that we're trying to do together. So these are three benefits of cooperating. Yes, I know there's challenges, but when you confront those challenges and overcome them, you get the benefit of, of incredible impact. You get the benefit of meaningful relationships, and you get the benefit of significant resources being provided and being available to you in ministry leadership. Well, finally, let's wrap up the podcast to talk today about how that you can enhance your cooperation with other Southern Baptists to get God's work done. Well, let me give you a few suggestions. Number one, have realistic expectations.

Cooperation is going to be challenging. I've already told you that I gave you at least three ways that it's challenged me over the years. Have realistic expectations. Uh, not everyone's going to agree with you. Not everyone's going to see things your way. Not everyone's going to do things the way you want them done. Uh, I recently made this statement, I cooperate with churches that I would not join as a member. Yes, uh, there are certain viewpoints that some pastors hold about ministry methodology or about certain theology or about ministry leadership practices that just don't line up with how I see the church needing to be where I'm going to be a member. But that doesn't mean I can't cooperate with them because we still overall want the same thing. And we're still overall working toward the same goals. And that's part of what makes our movement so powerful, is that we have realistic expectations that we're not all going to agree on everything, and yet we still come together to get God's work done.

So first, you want to enhance your cooperation, have realistic expectations. Second, participate. Show up. Show up at an associational event. Show up at a state convention. Show up at your national convention show up. Now, many years ago, an old timer who had been involved in Southern Baptist life for decades told me something that when he first said it, I thought, well, that's kind of, that's kind of crazy. But the more I thought about it, I realized, huh, crazy smart. He said to me, Jeff, he said, an effective pastor only has one day a month to think about the convention or the denomination one day a month.

I thought, really? What do you mean by that? He said, I mean that a pastor who spends more than about 10 to 12 days a year thinking about the convention isn't doing his job. He needs to spend most of his time thinking about his church and his community and how he can reach and disciple more people right there. But he said, about 10 or 12 days a year, a good leader needs to focus on the greater work we're doing and the combined work we're doing. Go to an associational, a pastor's luncheon, go to an associational meeting, go to your state conventions, evangelism conference or missions conference, go to your national convention. He said, when you add all that up, a half a day here, a full day here, a a couple of days here, you add that all up. You got about 10 days a year that a pastor needs to invest himself in the cooperative work we're doing to both understand what's happening there, to have a voice in what's going on there, and to have information that he can bring back to his church about the greater work we're doing in cooperating together.

Now, I've thought about that conversation a lot over the years, and I don't know that it's a hard and fast rule, but I would say this, most pastors don't have weeks and weeks and weeks to devote to the cooperative work we're doing. But pastors and church members need to spend some time participating. Think about it this way, A day, a month, 10, 12 days a year where you're going to attend meetings, go to events, spend time learning, spend time investing. If you'll do that, you will be participating in our cooperative work at a level that both keeps you connected, helps you feel invested, gives you the information you need to take back to your church, while at the same time not distracting you from the real work you're supposed to be doing, which is ministering in a local community, evangelizing and discipling right there. So how to enhance your cooperation.

First, realistic expectations and second participation. Third, have a voice both positively and when it needs to be negatively about our cooperative work. This means that you preach and you teach and you educate and you blog or you social media or whatever it is you do to communicate about our cooperative work in healthy ways. Now, quite frankly, most it seems of what's out there in religious social media these days is pretty negative. We need to balance that out. You can balance that out by being positive and saying positive things about the cooperative work we're doing in those contexts. Now, when something negative needs to be said in a meeting or in a public forum, let's say it, but sometimes I get the impression that we only want to use these, these venues to voice the negative and not spend enough time also voicing the positive of what we're doing together.

So I want to challenge you to use your voice, show up and vote. Uh, write something to your church. Explain something to them and what it means to be in a cooperative relationship with others and help them to grow and understand not only the greater work we're doing, but their under, uh, but the details about it from time to time. Now, as a part of this, when I say use your voice, I want to also challenge you to not assume that people in your church understand how cooperation works or why we cooperate, or what the convention is like, and what it, and how it functions. At Gateway Seminary, for example, for years, I have taught a introduction, uh, uh, orientation to new students about the cooperative program. And without a, without fail, every year, students will come up to me afterwards and say, I've never heard this before.

This is fantastic because no one in their church ever taught them how the cooperative program works. We assume everyone gets it without instructing or teaching, and then wonder why people are confused about it. So use your voice, speak up positively and negatively. Teach, preach and educate about the work we're doing together. And then finally, how can you enhance your cooperation by focusing relentlessly on the overarching mission of Southern Baptist? The Southern Baptist Convention was, was, uh, formed using the original language from the original Constitution for the propagation of the gospel, the propagation of the gospel. That's why we cooperate. We cooperate so that more people in more places can hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes it's easy to lose focus on that, to get all caught up in all the other aspects of all the things that were going, that are going on both positively and negatively. And forget that the reason we come together, the reason we cooperate, is the propagation of the gospel.

It's so more people will know about Jesus. Our world is lost and broken and seemingly on a pale Mel, on rapid descent toward destruction. The Bible actually says that's going to happen. Most of us hope it doesn't happen for a long time because we really want every single person to hear about Jesus. Now, on the other hand, yes, we say, Lord, come Jesus, Lord Jesus, come quickly. I get that. But I don't. I don't want one person in this world to die without hearing about Jesus. That's why I cooperate. That's why I cooperate. And so if you want to have, if you want to enhance your cooperation, have realistic expectations, participate, show up at least one day a month on average for a year. Make a difference. Use your voice. Speak up positively and when necessary negatively, but also preach, teach and educate about what it means to cooperate. And then finally, stay focused on the reason we cooperate. It's for the propagation of the gospel. I know that's an old sounding word. It simply means we cooperate so that every person in the world can hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I've talked today about cooperation. It's the bedrock of what makes us Southern Baptist. No one forces us to do anything. We are not bound by any legal attachments or by any restrictions that force us to participate at any level. We are a fully volunteer movement. We choose to cooperate our doctrinal standards and our mission. They keep us focused. But the reason we cooperate is because we want to. We've decided we can do more together than we can do on our own. I call it the economy of impact. Today. I've talked about some limitations, some benefits, and some enhancements of how we can cooperate better together. Put this into practice as you lead on.