ONTARIO, Ca. – The California Southern Baptist Convention (CSBC) Executive Board voted September 10 to recommend a 2027 Ministries Budget of $5,879,816, including a Cooperative Program (CP) objective of $4,600,000. Any CP receipts above that objective will go directly to the SBC Executive Committee. The proposal was approved for recommendation to the full board by the Finance and Budget Committee on August 18 and will go before messengers at the 2026 CSBC Annual Meeting at Immanuel Baptist Church in Highland.
In 2024, messengers requested that the Executive Board publish the proposed annual budget earlier, giving churches more time to review it and prepare questions ahead of the vote at the Annual Meeting. In response, the Board is publishing this year’s proposed budget in advance, with the full document attached to this release.
The $4.6 million CP objective reflects a downward trend in CP receipts from the end of 2025 through August 2026. The remaining $1,279,816 will come primarily from prior-year investment earnings and North American Mission Board funds designated for church planting and evangelism.
Despite the lower CP objective, the Board’s proposed budget increases the CP allocation to the SBC Executive Committee from 31 to 32 percent for 2027, while allocations to California Baptist University, the Baptist Foundation of California, and Associational Missions remain unchanged at 2 percent, 1 percent, and 2 percent, respectively. The state’s share decreases to 63 percent to fund ministries in California.
CSBC CFO and Business Services Team Leader Marc Tempesta said the increase is made possible in part by the sale of CSBC’s Fresno office building.
“We’re increasing our investment income utilized in the budget, and at the same time increasing the percentage of Cooperative Program dollars going to the SBC Executive Committee for missions,” Tempesta said. “We’re able to do that because we’re selling our Fresno office building, which gives us savings, and we’re able to reinvest those proceeds to help sustain the budget and give a higher percentage to missions.”
Tempesta said he hopes church leaders will see the increase as an invitation to support CP.
“My hope is that churches see the value in the work CSBC does in serving its churches in the areas of evangelism and church planting for example, and that an increase in giving to Cooperative Program means more work being done both in California and abroad,” he said. “We know a rising tide raises all ships. If Cooperative Program giving goes up, we’re able to do more work here, across America, and internationally. My prayer is that churches see this as an opportunity, see that our heart is to increase giving to missions as much as possible, and would consider a greater allocation to Cooperative Program in their church budgets.”
Richard Spring, chair of the Finance and Budget Committee, said the proposed budget balances the Convention’s mission with the financial realities many churches face.
“The proposed budget presented to messengers this year seeks to meet the goals and objectives of the Convention while being realistic about the economic realities of the churches that make up the CSBC,” Spring said. “Messengers should notice that in spite of a lower Cooperative Program objective, we have increased the percentage from 31 to 32 percent that goes to our national agencies. They should also notice that because of our investments through the Foundation, we are able to offset some of the decrease in CP.”
Spring said he remains convinced of CP’s value, even as some churches have grown less familiar with how it works.
“As far as I am concerned,” he said, “CP is still the best financial system there is to support missions, church planting, and theological education. There is no better representation of being ‘Better Together’ than the Cooperative Program. It seems that for some, cooperation is being redefined, as people have become skeptical of institutions and agencies. There is also a seeming lack of understanding of how the Cooperative Program works among pastors and church planters.”
Tempesta also praised the work of the Finance and Budget Committee.
“Our committee is very involved and very in tune with our finances,” he said. “They’re committed to good stewardship of the resources we’ve been blessed with, and their goal is to maximize the Kingdom return on investment with what we’ve been entrusted to steward. I think they, along with the whole board, have always done a great job at that.”
“God has been good to the CSBC,” Spring added. “As our churches begin planning their 2027 budgets, may they consider anew their giving to the Cooperative Program. It takes all of our churches to penetrate the lostness that exists in California, to plant new churches, to help revitalize churches, educate the next generation of church leaders, and advance the Kingdom of God in California.”
