Whether consciously or subconsciously, we all make assumptions that affect our lives. Some assumptions are more dangerous than others. Assuming the waiter correctly relayed your order to the chef is not nearly as hazardous as assuming that the oncoming car will stop if the light turns red. Innocent assumptions often lead to puzzling disappointments. Egregious assumptions often lead to critical detriments.
Baptists today may be making some assumptions of the more egregious type concerning our shared mission. Over many decades, we have built a robust Great Commission enterprise. No Christian group sends missionaries, plants churches, meets human needs, relieves disasters, and trains church leaders to the extent that Southern Baptists do — and we do all of this, and more, together, voluntarily! But our successes will not allow room for arrogance. Neither does our autonomy give license for indifference. Southern Baptist Great Commission cooperation is not a perpetuated, well-oiled machine. It is an invitation to doctrinally aligned, missionally focused, joyfully sacrificial engagement with every passing generation.
Among all dangerous assumptions, perhaps the “someone else” assumptions are among the most pressing in our day. Hiding behind autonomy in a large family of Baptist cooperants, we often assume that which must be done is being done by someone else. Here are five dangerous assumptions Baptists make.
1. Someone else is going.
Immediately after Jesus told His disciples, “Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:38), He “gave them authority” (10:1) then “sent out these twelve” (10:5). Christ made the disciples the answer to their own prayer request. Each year, everyday Southern Baptists leave behind their careers, their familiarities, and their relationships to replant their lives somewhere around the world on mission through our North American Mission Board or International Mission Board. Why not you?
2. Someone else is sending.
Paul and Barnabas were among the Antioch church’s most gifted Bible teachers. But when God called them to the mission field, the church “sent them” out (Acts 13:1–3). Today, in our Southern Baptist work, where do missionaries come from? They come from churches just like yours. Raise them up and send them out.
3. Someone else is praying.
The missionary apostle asked the Colossian Christians to “pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the word” (Col. 4:3). If prayer opens doors to the gospel, shouldn’t every Baptist in every cooperating church be interceding for those we send? Perhaps an assumptive pivot is in order; instead of supposing that someone else is interceding for sent ones, pray as if you are the only one.
4. Someone else is financing.
As Paul was tilling gospel soil in unreached regions, he thanked the Philippian congregation because “no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone” (Phil. 4:15). Later, in Corinth, cooperative gifts from Macedonian churches were sent to Paul, which enabled him to focus more comprehensively on the missionary task (Acts 18:1–5). Our Southern Baptist people are among the most economically prosperous in the world, and the treasures of heaven flow through the softened hearts and open hands of Christ’s people. Why not yours?
5. Someone else is participating.
The New Testament missionary model included not only the pooling of funds, but the strengthening of relationships. In Romans 16, Paul mentions 36 names in 23 verses —“coworkers.” In 2 Corinthians 8:23, in some mysterious way, “the glory of Christ” was on display through the messengers sent from cooperating churches. Our Southern Baptist enterprise will always be more about relationships than resources. Attend the meetings. Get involved in the governance. Learn to love our Baptist people and to live in joyful communion with them.
May God see to it that such egregious assumptions do not disrupt Great Commission advancement in our generation. And may He be so pleased that as each Southern Baptist takes our shared mission more seriously — more personally — we might reach the ends of the earth, in our generation, with the gospel of Jesus Christ, together.
— Tony Wolfe is executive director-treasurer of the South Carolina Baptist Convention.