Feb
20
2010
Southern Baptists and the Great Commission Resurgence: All Eyes on Nashville
Douglas Baker brings us up to speed on the change that’s happening in the Southern Baptist Convention with the Great Commission Resurgence.
Some key points:
Historical background:
Few in the SBC want to admit one of its most observable historical realities: Southern Baptists grew large through organizational genius combined with a spiritual passion that mushroomed in an era of cultural uniformity.
Albert Mohler recently compared the SBC to the General Motors Corporation:
Though American culture, particularly in the Bible belt, has changed profoundly, the SBC has continued to operate out of a 1950s programmatic mentality.
Enter the Great Commission Resurgence: “a formal movement seeking to order all actions and funding of the SBC toward fulfilling the Great Commission.”
The tension?
How can mission partnerships remain if distrust and disagreement exists among “conservative” leaders who seem divided on funding formulas and cooperative agreements? . . . The cooperating levels (church, association, state convention, national agencies/entities) have basically remained untouched by Southern Baptists for almost 100 years. The Cooperative Program (the SBC’s funding mechanism for missions) looks much as it did when it was established in 1925.
The upshot?
[S]eismic shifts could be coming to the SBC. Should the task force’s recommendations be defeated at the annual meeting in Orlando, the SBC still will never be the same as a result of this group’s report.
Conclusion:
At this point all eyes are on Nashville where the task force will present their report to the SBC Executive Committee. What transpires after that will forever change how Southern Baptists, as a formal convention of churches, fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.
HT: Trevin Wax