Messengers to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Louisville June 23-24 gave president Johnny Hunt the “green light” to appoint a task force to study how best to implement a Great Commission Resurgence strategy.
Don KirklandThat 19-member panel, which includes Taylors First Baptist pastor and former SBC president Frank Page, will report to the 2010 gathering of Southern Baptists in Orlando.
This task force should carry out its assignment with the commitment called for as our denomination seeks more efficiently and effectively to obey the last instructive word from Jesus to his church.
At the same time, the panel must proceed with caution to ensure that the Great Commission Resurgence serves as a rallying point for all Southern Baptists. Our denomination already has endured too much divisiveness for the good of its spiritual health and strength.
The 10-point declaration had its origins as a sermon delivered by Southeastern Baptist Seminary president Danny Akin to students attending a chapel service. The document itself was not acted upon by messengers in Louisville. For weeks, however, it had been a primary topic of discussion, especially among Southern Baptist leaders.
Hunt has viewed the document as a necessary “shock” to the system of the denomination. Immediately, the declaration aroused strong feelings. Some enthusiastically endorsed the document. Others cast a wary eye upon it, especially Article 9 describing the SBC bureaucracy as “bloated” in an early draft. Later, the offending article was altered, the language softened. Still, however, it called for a study of the convention structure, ostensibly to discover ways the denomination can make better use of Cooperative Program funds for Great Commission work.
Morris Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee, said from the outset that he would not sign the document as long as it contained Article 9. And he has raised questions that deserve answers:
— Is a Great Commission Resurgence more about the Great Commission than about the Southern Baptist Convention?
— Does the Great Commission Resurgence seek to bring together all Southern Baptists at the national, state and associational level, or does it unnecessarily alienate certain demographics?
Chapman also is not sure whether the intent of Article 9 honors long-established principles of trustee governance of entities. And, he has asked, does the proposal seek what he terms “personal transformation of our hearts or institutional transformation of our structure?”
President Hunt and other leaders have disavowed any desire to reinvent the Southern Baptist Convention. Yet, Article 9 remains suspect in the minds of some, and perhaps many. Is such an examination of the SBC structure outside the bounds of current governing principles and practices? Does Article 9 represent a second agenda?
At best, Article 9 has the potential to become a major distraction. At worst, it could develop into a source of division among Baptists.
Southern Baptist entities have procedures in place to keep or put their own houses in order to give expected support to what must be a grass-roots movement among Southern Baptists to fulfill the Great Commission. The two mission boards and six theological institutions are considered as vital to Great Commission ministry. Already, they receive the lion’s share of Cooperative Program money.
The task force has its work cut out for it. It must — and does, I am sure — know that the resurgence must catch fire at the local level or it will fizzle for sure.
The resurgence must stand clear of haggling over lesser things. If renovation of the SBC structure is called for, do what good stewardship of resources demands. But to Baptists in the pews, the curb appeal of the Southern Baptist Convention’s bureaucratic edifice is of less interest than the denomination’s heart for making disciples.
In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus gave to us “red-letter Christians” a commission to be carried out individually and collectively. He has assured us of his power and his presence. Nothing must block the path of obedience or hamper our combined efforts as Southern Baptists to fulfill what has been our mission from the beginning.