Southern Baptists resisted both a fundamentalist hardening and a liberal drift this year, contrary to suspicions and concerns voiced before the meeting. Different people were convinced one would occur. This was demonstrated in the resolution on race and racial reconciliation. The meeting also addressed concerns about the Executive Committee (EC) mishandling credible sexual abuse allegations in Southern Baptist Churches. Here is a summary of these two “big tickets,” a reflection on Baptist autonomy, and an update on the presidency.
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| Original Photo from Vox. |
Race and Racial Reconciliation
The committee on resolutions received numerous submissions to address ideologies which are spreading through our culture such as Critical Race Theory (CRT), White Supremacy, and Lost Cause Theory. Instead of creating resolutions for each, they crafted one which addressed all these matters titled “On the sufficiency of Scripture for Race and Racial Reconciliation.” The text of Resolution 2 is below the conclusion.There was debate on the floor about this resolution because some were unhappy that the resolution did not explicitly name CRT, which many Southern Baptists voiced concern about. The resolutions committee expressed that they did not name CRT for three reasons: 1) CRT is a societal trend that will pass, so they sought to make the resolution “timeless,” 2) they were not just addressing CRT, but also other worldly ideologies, so they wanted to keep it broad to address all three, and 3) they wanted to build bridges instead of walls by avoiding the name CRT because some African Americans understand a denial of CRT to mean a denial of ongoing racial injustice in our country.
Sexual Abuse
A resolution via pastor and messenger Grant Gaines moved for a task force to oversee the third-party investigation of the EC’s handling of sexual abuse allegations. The history behind this was that in 2019, the Houston Chronicler ran a piece that listed some Southern Baptist churches who employed accused or convicted sex offenders as Pastors. Immediately many Southern Baptists cried out for investigations into these claims. The EC was supposed to oversee the investigation, but many thought they were negligent in this. Leading up to the 2021 annual meeting, the EC agreed to hire a third-party firm to investigate their handling of the matter. This was progress, but not enough for many; messengers voted overwhelmingly to have a task force oversee the third-party investigation because the EC’s oversight was a conflict of interest.
A related resolution, resolution 5, was passed by messengers to prevent anyone guilty of sexual abuse from serving as a Southern Baptist pastor. The intent may have been directed at Pastors who currently serve and are found guilty, but the wording was vague enough to include anyone who committed it - at any point in their life. This resolution could have used some refinement for that reason. The text of Resolution 5 is below the conclusion.
True to our Baptist Roots: Autonomy
The Southern Baptist Convention is a voluntary cooperation of like-minded churches who work together to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. This model is supposed to uphold the autonomy of the local church, while maximizing effectiveness through cooperation. Southern Baptist messengers elect accountable officers to the EC to conduct their day-in and day-out business between annual meetings. Independent Baptist types may jest that “the Southern Baptist churches report to their ‘top-down hierarchy’ in Nashville,” but the 2021 annual meeting particularly demonstrated that is not the case.
Our church autonomy shined through in two ways: First, the EC proposed to restructure how excess cooperative fund dollars were used and how our educational entity (Lifeway) functioned. Both these things were rejected by the convention by a firm majority vote. Second, the convention voted to begin a third-party investigation of the EC who were accused of mishandling sexual abuse allegations (which they were tasked to assess and involve authorities accordingly). This is hard-proof of Southern Baptist church autonomy and our bottom-up cooperative model.
Every kind of human society has corruption on some level, even among the Church. This is a sad, but true, reality. We see this even among Jesus’ disciples with Judas. They question is “does this society have safeguards in place for such leaders?” I believe Baptists are uniquely positioned to confront corruption because of our polity. Our bottom-up, autonomous church model insists that our leaders give an account or be subject to prosecution or removal. Sometimes our model is clunky, but I ask you – does an Episcopal or Catholic model allow such bottom-up accountability of its leaders? Has that served them well? Baptists are not perfect, but our polity is ideal for rooting out corruption and exposing sins that leaders would conceal.
The Presidency
J.D. Greer served as President unexpectedly for three years on account of Covid-19. He led with integrity and conviction through a trying season. I appreciate his leadership and will continue to look up to him as a great commission leader. Part of the President’s job is moderating the annual meeting. I always knew this, but I did not appreciate the monstrosity of the task until this year. For two, 8-hour days President Greer served our convention by leading zealously, speaking exactly, listening attentively, and remaining patient, kind, and positive. He reflected about the experience on twitter:In Conclusion
We are heading in the right direction as a convention. The elected leaders are firmly committed to our essential truths of cooperation found in the Baptist Faith & Message 2000. We are seeking to build bridges with the world around us while maintaining a clear witness to Jesus and his truth in scripture. Neither fundamentalism or liberalism was established at this meeting. Southern Baptists send the most missionaries across the globe each year because of such cooperation and I pray it continues.
We are an imperfect convention, but we are incredibly blessed with leaders and messengers who are committed to striving for the best in Jesus’ name. For those reasons, I’m proud today to be Southern Baptist. My love for Jesus, his gospel, and my fellow believers calls me to be part of this denomination to maximize my participation in his call to go to the nations and make disciples. Sometimes that means we have issues to hammer out along the way, and that is exactly what Southern Baptists did this year in Nashville.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Text of Resolution 2
Note: This is reproduction of what was printed in the meeting’s
daily bulletin. I don’t believe it was amended in any way. (Hint: skip to the lines
beginning with “resolved” for the meat of the resolution.)
WHEREAS, "All Scripture is inspired by God and is
profitable for teaching. for rebuking, for correcting, for training in
righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good
work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17): and
WHEREAS, The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 states,
"All Scripture is totally true and trustworthy" (Article I); and
WHEREAS, "God created man in his own image"
(Genesis 1:27): and
WHEREAS, "From one man [God] has made every nationality
to live over the whole earth" (Acts 17:26); and
WHEREAS, In his prophetic vision John saw "a vast
multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could
number,
standing before the throne and before the Lamb"
(Revelation 7:9-10); and
WHEREAS, "Sin entered the world through one man, and
death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned (Romans
5:12); and
WHEREAS through faith we are all sons of God in Christ Jesus
... There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all
one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:26-28); and
WHEREAS, "God ... has reconciled us to himself through
Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians
5:18); and
WHEREAS, The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 states,
"Christians should oppose racism" (Article XV); now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist
Convention meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, June 15-16, 2021, affirm the sufficiency
of Scripture on race and racial reconciliation; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we reaffirm our agreement with historic,
biblically-faithful Southern Baptist condemnations of racism in all forms; and be
it further
RESOLVED, That we reject any theory or worldview that finds
the ultimate identity of human beings in ethnicity or in any other group dynamic;
and be it further
RESOLVED, That we reject any theory or worldview that sees
the primary problem of humanity as anything other than sin against God and the
ultimate solution as anything other than redemption found only in Christ; and
be it further
RESOLVED, We, therefore, reject any theory or worldview that
denies that racism, oppression, or discrimination is rooted, ultimately, in anything
other than sin; and be it further
RESOLVED, That, understanding we live in a fallen world, we
reaffirm the 1995 Resolution On Racial Reconciliation On The 150th Anniversary
Of The Southern Baptist Convention, which includes, "That we apologize to
all African-Americans for condoning and/or perpetuating individual and systemic
racism in our lifetime; and we genuinely repent of racism of which we have been
guilty, whether consciously (Psalm 19:13) or unconsciously (Leviticus
4:27)," applying this disposition to every instance of racism; and be it
finally
RESOLVED, We affirm that our reconciliation in Christ gives
us the opportunity and responsibility to pursue reconciliation with others so that
we can display and share the hope of the gospel with the world.”
Text of Resolution 5
Note: This is reproduction of what was printed in the meeting’s
daily bulletin. I don’t believe it was amended in any way.
“WHEREAS, Scripture says that pastors, elders, and overseers
are to be "above reproach" (1 Timothy 3:2) and "blameless"
(Titus 1:6); and
WHEREAS, The Baptist Faith & Message says that pastors
should be "qualified by Scripture"; and
WHEREAS, Sexual abuse is an action repugnant to the
teachings of Scripture and reprehensible even to those who are not believers;
now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist
Convention, meeting in Nashville, TN, June 15-16, 2021, believe that any person
who has committed sexual abuse is permanently disqualified from holding the
office of pastor; and be it finally
RESOLVED, That we recommend that all of our affiliated
churches apply this standard to all positions of church leadership.”
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