While the chairman of the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s Executive Board says there are portions of the GCR task force report he does not endorse, he nevertheless hopes South Carolina Baptists can come together to “honor the Scriptures that speak of unity [while also] accomplish[ing] the ones that speak of impacting a lost world.”
Keith Davis, pastor of Zion Hill Baptist Church, Spartanburg, and SCBC Executive Board chairman, addressed board members in a message during the Monday night worship session at the Oct. 10-11 Executive Board meeting at White Oak Conference Center.
DavisWhile commending the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force for “time and effort given to this difficult task,” Davis said he is concerned about “divisions within our state” regarding some of the GCR recommendations.
Differences of opinion have surfaced on social media and in the op-ed and letters section of The Baptist Courier. For many, the point of contention centers around whether the SCBC’s institutions – particularly, the universities – should be able to seat qualified Baptist trustees from outside South Carolina. Others have questioned whether the institutions are being asked to take too big a financial hit in order to divert more Cooperative Program dollars to global missions and church planting.
“Even though we are on the same team, our differences have polarized us,” Davis said during his message. “On either side, most will not change their stand as long as the current issues stay the same. My stand is no secret. I cannot support the total GCR package as one vote.” (Davis told the Courier that “allowing the messengers to vote item by item will allow us to know what we all agree on.”)
“But my opinion and your opinion are not important,” Davis told Executive Board members. “God’s direction is what we need.”
“We all know that the world is aware when churches struggle with unity, and we are a big part of the church in South Carolina,” he said. “Our oneness – is a witness in itself.”
Citing several scriptural references to the need for unity among Christ’s followers, passages that Davis said are “not hard to interpret,” he added that, nevertheless, it can be “hard to practice them when preferences and passions are involved.”
In addition to what some might perceive as “two groups – in our state Baptist family” with regard to the GCR recommendations, Davis said there is also a third group, one “that is usually silent – that says they are tired of the struggles we have.”
As a model for South Carolina Baptists to consider when deciding whether to send more dollars out of state, Davis pointed to his home church, Fairview in Spartanburg, which in the 1970s voted to send half of all its receipts to missions and ministries outside its doors, resulting in a nearly tenfold increase in giving outside the church. He said God subsequently blessed the church, and the move toward greater outside giving “was done in unity.”
“Faith and surrender to God’s will do come into play when you ask God to give to you so you can give to others,” he said.
“Could we as South Carolina Baptists come up with a road map that is unifying, systematically healthy, and which accomplishes effective change? We will determine that [together],” he said.
When South Carolina Baptists meet in November to consider adopting the GCR report, “the unity of the Spirit is the priority,” Davis told Executive Board members. “If [more] time is needed to protect the unity of the Spirit, then take the time.”
Davis told the Courier he does not want to be seen as divisive. “I’m not staking a flag, I’m seeking the kingdom,” he said.
“It’s okay to have a different opinion, but if we let this divide us, we have failed. We will pray, we’ll vote, and we’ll go forward,” he said. “We would hope to have a clear majority, and that even those adamantly against the results won’t walk away.”