The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship intends to double its efforts on advocacy.
For the first time, CBF plans to hire two full-time staff members working in this area, one as director of advocacy and one as congregational advocacy manager.
Advocacy work has been a part of CBF’s mission for a decade and has been led that entire time by Stephen Reeves, first as full-time CBF staff member and for the past two years in a dual arrangement with Fellowship Southwest, where Reeves now serves as executive director.
Stephen Reeves
Reeves, who has relocated to Central Texas, will transition out of the CBF part of his duties and concentrate full time on the specific missions and advocacy work of Fellowship Southwest, an ecumenical movement that spans from Texas to Southern California.
Now, CBF will begin a search for two full-time employees to carry on the advocacy work Reeves pioneered.
“As we look toward the future, I am committed toward further expansion of our advocacy efforts as we seek a new director of advocacy and a congregational advocacy manager,” said Paul Baxley, CBF Executive Coordinator. “These searches that will begin this summer allow us to more fully realize the mandate that emerged in the Toward Bold Faithfulness process that our Fellowship equip congregations for public witness in their communities while also engaging in advocacy at the national level.”
Since its formation in 1991, CBF has made Global Missions a hallmark of its work. Advocacy was a later addition, although the roots of such work run deep in the historical model that shaped CBF’s founders. Previously, similar work was done by the Southern Baptist Christian Life Commission and the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission — nationally recognized leaders in speaking on moral and ethical issues of the day.
Expanding on that tradition, CBF tied advocacy to Global Missions in what a news release called a demonstration of “Christ’s love to our neighbors most neglected and marginalized by the world.”
The first project Reeves led CBF to tackle was creating a national coalition calling for reform of predatory lending practices. Also, CBF continues to speak on issues of refugees, immigrants and asylum‐seekers. CBF collaborates with the Evangelical Immigration Table, the Interfaith Immigration Coalition and the National Immigration Forum.
Through a three‐year partnership with Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, CBF created a toolkit for congregations desiring to incorporate advocacy into their own local ministries. This resource eventually became The Mission of Advocacy: A Toolkit for Congregations published by Nurturing Faith in August of 2020.
CBF Advocacy also sponsors annual Advocacy in Action summits in Washington, D.C., and in New York City.
In 10 years, CBF Advocacy has gone from nonexistent to an appreciated and expected part of what Cooperative Baptists do, Reeves observed. “It’s exciting to look across the Fellowship and see so many churches embracing advocacy as part of the life of their congregations.”