Celebrating 25 years of CBF
In 1991, Christ's love compelled a group of courageous women and men who supported Baptist principles to form the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Twenty-five years later, we celebrate this founding and our bright future together.
"Christ's love compels us" is our 25th Anniversary theme, taken from 2 Corinthians 5:14, which says: "Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all." From our foundations to our future, Christ's love has compelled the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship to live into our vision to be a national and global community bearing witness to the gospel in partnership with Christians across the nation and around the world.
Join us as we celebrate our founding and our future!
Take part in the CBF Young Baptist Lenten Giving Challenge to benefit the 25th Anniversary Campaign! Learn more and give here.
FAQs
What is an ampersand?
To symbolize the inclusive nature of the love of Christ and the synergy that we have when we partner together, we chose the ampersand (&).
For the past 25 years, CBF has been a witness to the power of "&" as we have joined with churches, individuals and global partners to renew God's world. We have built our identity on "&" because our God is an ampersand God — Father, Son & Holy Spirit — and because Cooperative Christianity is an ampersand endeavor. As a Fellowship, our story is richer, fuller and more vibrant when it is woven together with the stories and movements of other Christians, people and partners in our local communities and around the world. We celebrate the many ways ampersand theology has shaped this body over the past 25 years and pray that God will continue to move us to embrace the ampersand in new and transformative ways over the next 25 years.
What is CBF's 25th Anniversary Campaign?
Born out of our love of Christ and each other, the 25th Anniversary Campaign is a fundraising effort that engages all of CBF, including individuals, churches and partners. The campaign has been operating in its "silent phase" since the spring of 2015, when we began developing priorities for support among CBF's various missions and ministry initiatives and generating support among volunteers and donors who will help lead the campaign as it strives toward the fundraising goal. The public phase of the campaign runs from CBF's General Assembly in Greensboro, N.C., in June 2016 through a celebration at the General Assembly in Atlanta in June 2017.
How much will the campaign raise? What will it support?
The Campaign aims to raise $12 million by June 2017. The campaign focuses on the long-lasting benefits of increasing CBF's endowments to support three goals that have been priorities throughout our 25-year history: sustaining the long-term presence of field personnel ($6 million), forming healthy churches ($4 million) and nurturing young Baptists ($2 million). The Campaign will also provide generous grants to CBF states and regions to support their ministries in these three areas. Click here to learn more about the campaign!
CBF Celebration Week
During the week of October 16-23, Fellowship churches and individuals set aside intentional times of celebration to honor CBF's 25th Anniversary. Through special worship services, mission projects, Bible studies, state and regional getherings and other special events, this CBF Celebration Week was an opportunity for Cooperative Baptists across the country and around the world to thank God for the past 25 years and look forward to our future as a Fellowship.
