Anyone who knows me well knows that I do not readily sign my name to a document. I read, re-read, and re-read again. I dissect every sentence and analyze every word. Hence, when leaders within the Southern Baptist Convention produced a document entitled, “Toward a Great Commission Resurgence,” I did not sign it without thought. For what it’s worth, here is why this Southern Baptist is on board.
I am a product of a Great Commission Southern Baptist church. Not having been raised in a Christian home, I knew nothing of the gospel until a junior high classmate told me the good news of Christ. Neighbors – a Southern Baptist deacon on one side and a Southern Baptist church secretary on the other – provided a ride to church every week. My Southern Baptist pastor and church gave me two gifts that mark my life to this day: a belief in the authority of the Word and a commitment to the Great Commission. I will forever be grateful for those faithful Southern Baptists.
I have seen needs around the world. As a consultant regarding international theological education, I have met people who worship false gods, who offer fruit to statues, who carve idols from wood, and who fear demonic forces. Others reject any belief in God, choosing instead to live for the temporary gains that this world offers. For the sake of the billions in the world who still need Christ, Southern Baptists must take a frank look at our commitment to the Great Commission.
I believe in the missiological approach suggested. Ours is a denomination that has taken a clear position on the Word of God. That stance does not, however, require that we all do church the same way. I have worshipped in services where the music was not my style, but it was appropriate for that context. I grew up in a church with a typical pulpit, but good preaching is not dependent on the pulpit furniture. If Southern Baptists are to influence the world for God’s glory, “methodological diversity that is biblically informed” is indeed on target.
I know many of the leaders who have signed this document. God has allowed me to serve alongside many of the SBC leaders who support this call for a Great Commission resurgence. I know some of these men well, and I trust them. We do not always agree on every issue, but I have no doubts about their commitment to the Word of God. Men like these will lead us to a healthy evaluation without compromising any ground gained during the Conservative Resurgence of the last thirty years.
I know many of the young leaders who have signed this document. Some of these young leaders were my students. Others I have met in other settings. The young leaders that I know are not liberals who believe that God’s Word is no longer relevant. They are not radicals out to destroy the Southern Baptist Convention. In fact, they understand that they are building on the shoulders of others who preceded them. They want to be part of a Great Commission denomination. They are not, though, going to wait for decades for the rest of us to get re-focused.
I work with unhealthy churches. As a church consultant, I assist many churches that are inwardly focused. Evangelism happens there by accident more than by strategy and training. Leaders might sound good in the pulpit, but the gospel is hard to find. Intentional discipleship is non-existent. In the end, non-growing believers and unhealthy churches lead to an unfocused, maintenance-oriented denomination. Somewhere, change must begin.
I believe in continual evaluation. This document’s call for a “more effective Convention structure” is discomforting to many, if not threatening. I understand that concern, both as an older Southern Baptist who likes consistency and as a denominational employee who prefers security. I have also appreciated greatly and worked well with associational, state convention, and national convention leaders. I love the work of the SBC, but all of us must be open to honest assessment.
I am reminded of the words of Anna Quindlen, Newsweek columnist who recently announced her last column for that magazine. Her reflections about the United States are telling, particularly regarding our approach to change:
Throughout the country there seems to be an understanding that this is and ought to be a time of reinvention, in the economy, in education, in the office. But no one seems eager to reinvent on an individual level.
It is that last sentence that caught my attention. America knows that change is needed, but individual Americans do not want to change personally. Southern Baptists must think differently about change in our convention if we intend to be again a Great Commission people. Together, we must live out the biblical truths for which we have stood so strongly — even if the changes necessary to get there are personally uncomfortable.
