Your Collaboration is Bearing Fruit in Exciting Ways
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program, and what a legacy it is! Generations of Southern Baptists have come together to send missionaries, plant churches, train ministers, and equip believers worldwide in a way that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. We celebrate this milestone with deep gratitude.
However, it’s also a good opportunity to clarify something that many still don’t realize: UBA is not funded through the Cooperative Program. Watch this video if you’d like a deeper (and hopefully entertaining) explanation.
Local associations like us are supported almost entirely by direct giving from churches in our area—your giving.
More than 96% of our budget comes directly from congregations like yours, which means you’re not just supporting a network; you are the network. And what you make possible is powerful.
Here are just a few tangible ways your partnership is bearing fruit:
Church Planting Center (CPC): 45-week residencies for Hispanic planters equips them with all the skills they need to launch well as intentionally bivocational pastors.
Líderes Transformadores (LT): A two-year program of retreats and small group work helping 120–150 Hispanic pastors, spouses, and lay leaders cultivate church health, community transformation, and multiplication. Both LT and CPC see fruit in community engagement and church planting before participants graduate.
Resilient Pathways & Renewal Cohorts: Resilient is in its third year of teaching pastors healthy habits and raising awareness of how to prevent burnout. Renewal cohorts meet in Houston and Galveston, providing fellowship and strategies for pastors in revitalization contexts.
Leaders Collaborative: Ongoing gatherings and retreats for pastors serving in challenging urban contexts. Between 40 and 60 pastors attend for sharpening and encouragement each month.
Missionary Sending Cohort: Collaborating to develop and deploy church members to mid- to long-term missionary service. 72 people from a dozen different churches have attended our cohort in English and Spanish, and 7 are being appointed to full-time missionary service. This model has attracted attention nationally from mission leaders and other networks.
Who’s My Neighbor outreach: Helping churches understand and feel equipped to engage their cross-cultural neighbors through training and outreach experience. These events have facilitated ongoing engagement with unreached people groups in the Houston area.
These events and cohorts aren’t just programs. They are stories of calling, resilience, community, and gospel impact. And they are only possible because of your giving.
While the CP advances global mission and theological education, UBA exists to serve local churches and leaders—right here, right now.
Summer can be a financially lean time for many ministries, but our work on the ground doesn’t stop. If your church is able to continue—or even increase—your giving during these months, it would be deeply appreciated and have an immediate impact.
If you’d like to learn more about specific needs or how your support is being utilized, I’d be happy to discuss.
Thank you for being a vital part of this local expression of the body of Christ.
Better together,
Braeburn Valley and Westbury Baptist churches discuss the benefits of sharing space with other local congregations for greater Kingdom impact.