Messengers adopted a resolution calling for reaffirmation of the centrality of the gospel of Jesus and endorsed other resolutions addressing the implications of the gospel at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention June 15-16 in Orlando, Fla.
The resolution on the gospel was one of seven approved by messengers either unanimously or with almost no opposition during the morning session June 16. The other measures:
– Encouraged prayer for the end of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and for those affected by the crisis, and action by the government and corporations to prevent future catastrophes.
– Opposed the effort to change federal law to permit homosexuals to serve openly in the military.
– Expressed disapproval of the Employment Non-discrimination Act, which would grant rights in the workplace based on homosexuality and other “sexual orientations.”
– Called for the “scandal of Southern Baptist divorce” to be addressed by the convention and its churches.
– Urged Christians to participate in family worship in their homes, with fathers taking the lead, and churches to promote the practice.
– Thanked God and those he used in producing the annual meeting of Southern Baptists.
The first resolution adopted by messengers urged churches not only to proclaim the gospel to unbelievers, but to Christians as well, “that through the renewing of our minds we might continually be transformed by the gospel.” It called for pastors “to keep the gospel foremost in every sermon” and churches “to display the gospel by transcending ethnic, racial, economic, and social barriers due to our unity in Christ.”
It also encouraged Southern Baptists “to speak to the outside world as those who are forgiven sinners, who have received mercy as a free gift, and not as those who are morally or ethically superior to anyone.” The resolution expressed prayer that God would make Southern Baptists “truly gospel-centered, gospel-saturated people whose lives and words point the world to our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Most of the other resolutions called for Southern Baptists to share the gospel or to demonstrate the gospel in their lives, including in their marriages.
Russell Moore, chairman of the Resolutions Committee, told reporters after the messengers’ votes the committee members “wanted to make a very clear statement at the very beginning that we believe the gospel is central not only in our evangelism, although that is certainly true, but in every aspect of the Christian life.”
The committee was “very intentional on trying to speak in a gospel-focused way not only in the first resolution” but in each of the others, said Moore, dean of the school of theology and senior vice president for academic administration at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
The resolution on the Gulf oil crisis asserted that mankind’s “dominion over the creation is not unlimited, as though we were gods and not creatures,” meaning there is a higher standard than economic profit.
“[W]e are acknowledging here there is no unlimited, Pharaoh-like dominion over the earth,” Moore said at the news conference. “There is a Christ-like stewardship over the earth, and that would apply in every aspect of life.”
The resolutions on homosexuals in the military and workplace expressed concerns about religious liberty, especially regarding the freedom to share the gospel, in the effort to expand civil rights to those with various “sexual orientations.” – BP