 |
|
|
| Recent News About the CBF |
WRAP-UP: CBF discusses budget woes, takes issue with SBC positions | Posted at Baptist Press News
Jul 1, 2003
By Gregory Tomlin & David Roach
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (BP)--More than 4,300 participants at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's general assembly in Charlotte, N.C., June 26-28 discussed the organization's financial difficulties and listened to speakers who consistently criticized the doctrinal stands of the Southern Baptist Convention.
CBF attendees approved a $19.7 million budget for 2003-2004 during a June 28 session. But according to Chuck Moates, chairman of the CBF Budget Priorities Task Force, it is unreasonable to expect that the CBF will generate sufficient revenue to meet that budget.
"At this point we do not think it is reasonable to expect -- based on what has happened since our February meeting when we voted on this budget -- it is not reasonable to expect that we are going to be able to give that budget," Moates told the CBF Coordinating Council June 25.
Because of the funding shortage, the Budget Priorities Task Force recommended to the Coordinating Council that:
--CBF-funded missionaries should begin to prioritize work areas and people groups to determine where funding can be delayed or terminated.
--Staff growth should be halted, and attrition should be used to remove staff positions.
--CBF should use a percentage of all designated gifts to cover any administrative costs required to implement the gifts.
Of the 4,357 registered CBF attendees, fewer than 500 were present at the vote to approve the 2003-2004 budget. At a breakout session to discuss the budget, only four CBF attendees, excluding media and CBF staff, were present.
One of the only mentions of the organization's budget difficulties at the general assembly came during CBF Moderator Phill Martin's report to the assembly.
"There is one point I need to communicate. Things really are great with CBF, but there is one thing that is of concern. ... There is an insider story that I am fearful many of you are not paying attention to. Our corporate vision and dreams for CBF are greater than our commitment to funding," Martin said.
"Funding is not an easy question or an easy subject in a movement. There are many parts and ministries to fund, but if we are to continue to say, 'Things are great at CBF,' we must all examine the funding of the national CBF organization."
Speakers at the general assembly included Tony Campolo, sociologist and popular speaker; Sarah Jackson Shelton, pastor of Baptist Church of the Covenant in Birmingham, Ala.; and Daniel Vestal, CBF Coordinator.
Speaking in a June 26 session, Campolo implicitly referenced the Southern Baptist Convention's stance on women pastors, saying that anyone who resists the notion of female preachers is functioning as a tool of the devil.
"It's one thing to be wrong, but that isn't wrong, that's sinful. The Bible says, 'neglect not the gift that is in you,' and when women are gifted with the gift of preaching, anybody who frustrates that gift is an instrument of the devil," Campolo said.
Campolo also referenced the SBC's position on homosexuality when he said that "another group" has "drawn the line" and said it would "fight out" the issue of homosexuality.
Regardless of what one believes theologically, the church must stand up for homosexuals, Campolo said.
"When in fact we live in a society that makes life hell for gays and lesbians, this community has got to stand up and say, 'We're on your side as you struggle for dignity,' and, 'Yes, we will defy anybody who says otherwise, even if we have to go to Disneyland to prove it.'"
Speaking in a June 27 session, Shelton told the general assembly that the CBF must not allow "other watchful conventions" to usurp its joy and inhibit its actions.
Comparing the CBF to King David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant, Shelton said that many would not understand the actions of the CBF faithful.
"Sitting in Charlotte, surrounded by friends within the CBF, we find it wonderful to be carried away by the music and we are more than willing to do a quick 'two step,'" Shelton said. "In other words, we find the companionship enabling us to be brave and bold about who we are and what we believe. But when we return home and we are faced with the realities of our congregations, our communities and other watchful conventions it is all too easy for the music to wane and for our dancing to be inhibited, stilted and, ultimately, to cease."
Vestal told the general assembly that the CBF must strive to be the presence of Christ together despite the Fellowship's theological diversity.
"CBF can be a place where we affirm each other's gifts and also recognize that none of us is the Body of Christ by ourselves. No one of us stands alone. No one of us has a corner on the truth. No one of us has a complete understanding of the Gospel. We will be the presence of Christ together," he said.
In other business:
--The CBF announced an agreement with the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas to plant 400 Hispanic churches in the United States. Albert Reyes, president of the Hispanic Baptist Theological School in San Antonio, Texas, said that within the next 50 years "the center of gravity for Christianity in the world will be in the southern part of the globe, that is, Latin America."
Under the agreement between the CBF and the HBCT, the CBF will identify its affiliated churches that are interested in ministry to Hispanics and encourage them to partner with the HBCT. The CBF will also encourage the support of HBCT churches by churches outside Texas.
The HBCT will identify churches within its convention and the Baptist General Convention of Texas that desire to reach Hispanics and encourage them to partner with Baptist churches affiliated with the CBF. HBCT leaders also will conduct workshops on evangelism among Hispanics.
Vestal and Martin of the CBF, Antonio Estrada and Jimmy Garcia signed the agreement. Estrada is a Houston-area pastor and immediate past president of the HBCT. Garcia is director of Hispanic ministry with the BGCT.
--Baptist Women in Ministry President Karen Massey, also associate professor of Christian education and faith development at the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University, presented a report on her organization's 20 years in existence. She said that that "women will continue to be called into ministry."
"The percentage of women enrolled in our moderate Baptist seminaries is higher than ever before. ... There are more women involved in all areas of church ministry, even the pastorate," Massey said.
--The CBF collected an offering of $128, 210 for its rural poverty initiative.
--Vestal announced the appointment of 18 global missionaries this year. He said that the appointment of the missionaries would not have been possible without an anonymous $2 million donation.
|
FIRST-PERSON: CBF reflections: Truth vs. the cult of personality | Posted at Baptist Press
Jul 2, 2003
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (BP)--My plan was to find an inconspicuous seat in the back of the room. But Bill Leonard's breakout session at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's general assembly was so crowded that I was forced to wedge myself into one of the few remaining seats right at the front. Shortly after sitting down, I began to chat with the woman sitting next to me. We exchanged pleasantries for a few moments, but when she learned that I am a student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the tone of our conversation changed.
With passion and genuine concern she told me that Southern Seminary is a place that will stifle my ability to think rationally. Southern Seminary can be an unfriendly place, and Southern Seminary wants to mold me into a rigid cookie-cutter of what it thinks a preacher should look like, she said.
Leonard, dean of the Wake Forest University Divinity School, lectured for the next hour on "The Plan(s) of Salvation: When Conversion and Pluralism Collide." He surveyed Baptist history and proposed several hypotheses. Among them:
--"Almost from the beginning of our movement, give or take 20 or 30 years, Baptists themselves have not agreed on the nature or process of conversion. We have had multiple plans."
--"Baptists invented the foundational principle of religious pluralism in the United States: ... religious liberty."
--"Early Baptists had no vision of foreign missions until [William] Carey and his colleagues appeared on the scene."
I listened to Leonard with great interest, but the whole time he was lecturing I had my conversation with the woman next to me in the back of my mind. When his lecture was over, we resumed our conversation and she asked me a startling question: "Why are you at Southern Seminary with people like Al Mohler when you could study with people like Bill Leonard instead?"
As I reflected on her inquiry, I thought about its implications. In her thinking, following a personality like that of Leonard would be more pleasant than following some of the personalities at Southern Seminary. And as I mentally surveyed my CBF experience, I had to admit that indeed, many of the CBF leaders I met -- like the faculty and leadership at Southern Seminary -- seem to have pleasant personalities.
Tony Campolo's sharp wit and dry sense of humor came through in his sermon to the general assembly. Carolyn Hale Cubbedge, past president of Baptist Women in Ministry, appeared to show deep personal concern for each of the young women who attended her breakout session. And by all appearances Bill Leonard demonstrated humility and love for his friends in attendance at the breakout session.
In fact, the more I reflected upon the appealing personalities at the CBF, the more I came to understand how sincere people like the woman next to me may have departed from the ranks of Southern Baptist conservatives. There may have been doctrinal differences. But in addition, perhaps somewhere along the way SBC leaders hurt her feelings and she decided to follow people whose personalities she preferred.
God's Word reminds us in 1 Corinthians 1:10-12 that this is not the first time the church has divided over personalities. Though they should have united in Christ, the Corinthians instead divided according to which church leader they preferred: Paul, Apollos, Peter or Jesus.
The problem with following personalities is that it inevitably leads to division, or worse, deception.
Why do I attend Southern Seminary with people like Al Mohler rather than another seminary with people like Bill Leonard? When the question is phrased in terms of competing personalities, there is no objective answer.
While I have found Mohler to be a very likable person, the question should not be one of personalities. Rather, it should be one of who proclaims the absolute truth of Scripture.
Paul reminded the Corinthians that they should follow him not because of his dynamic personality, but because he preached the truth of Jesus Christ: "I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:1-2).
If the woman next to me had phrased her question in terms of who proclaims the absolute truth of Scripture, it would have been much easier to answer. Why do I attend a seminary like Southern rather than a seminary with professors like Leonard? Consider the following:
--Leonard said in his breakout session on pluralism, "When I talk about this, somebody almost invariably stands up and wonderfully quotes John's gospel: 'I am the way, the truth, and the life,' which is fine. But if we're going to be literal about that, then let's trade literalisms and read Matthew 25 because in Matthew 25, there's a suggestion that on that great getting up morning, the ... ones who are welcomed into the Kingdom are those who fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the sick. And in doing that, the text says, even when they didn't know it, they were ... Christians."
--In his spring commencement address to Southern graduates, Mohler said, "Only one Gospel saves. The Apostle Paul ... says, 'Woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel.' It is because he knew the power of the authentic Gospel and the futility and the deadliness and the poison of the false gospels."
So if the question is one of personality, that woman and all the CBF attendees like her are justified in following personalities that meet their felt needs. But if the question is one of declaring "nothing ... but Jesus Christ and Him crucified," I'll choose Southern Seminary every time.
David Roach is a newswriter at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
|
CBF presenters: absolute truth claims -- break down; imperil religious liberty |
Posted at Baptist Press
Jul 1, 2003 CHARLOTTE, N.C. (BP)--Absolute truth claims are a warning sign of religion gone awry said one presenter, and claims that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation boarder on infringements of religious liberty, said another during breakout sessions at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship general assembly June 27.
The statements were made respectively by Charles Kimball chair of the department of religion, Wake Forest University and Bill Leonard, dean of the divinity school, Wake Forest University. The corresponding sessions were titled, "When Religion Becomes Evil," and "The Plan(s) of Salvation: When Conversion and Pluralism Collide."
Discussing his recent book, "When Religion Becomes Evil," Kimball said that religious groups who make absolute truth claims might pose a danger to society.
"At one level all religious traditions are predicated on truth claims. If we weren't affirming something that was powerfully and profoundly true, then what's the point?" Kimball said. "I'm not rejecting the notion of absolute truth. I actually believe firmly ... that there is such a thing as absolute truth. I also believe it rests with God and not with me and that we have to be very, very careful as human beings when we begin to appropriate ... that notion that when we think we have God in our heart ... [we] know what God wants ... for everybody else. Then I think you can show historically that you have at least the potential for a disaster waiting to happen because you can literally justify almost anything at that point."
Criticisms of Islam, such as those made by Southern Baptists Jerry Vines, R. Albert Mohler Jr., Franklin Graham and Jerry Falwell, are particularly dangerous, Kimball said. People like Vines, Mohler, Graham and Falwell should realize that Allah is not significantly different from the Christian God.
"The implications become very, very dangerous as well. And some of this debate, for instance, that's been going on this year about Allah being a different God than the God of the Bible. Let me circle back to brother Jerry Falwell and note that he and others have gone to great pains to make this distinction that Christians and Muslims are not talking about the same God. This is, in my view, either ignorant or disingenuous or maybe both on the part of these people," he said.
"In the first place, Allah is simply the Arabic word for God. I've worked for many, many years with Christians throughout the Middle East, 16 million Christians in the Middle East, indigenous Arab-speaking Christians. ... When they pray, they pray to Allah. I've been in worship services many, many times, maybe 35 or 40 times over the years. Because they speak Arabic, the Arabic word for God is Allah. If you speak French it's Dieu. So in the first place, people are playing on this notion that it's somehow a very different kind of God."
It is particularly inaccurate, according to Kimball, for Christians to claim that one must believe in the divinity of Christ in order to have a correct understanding of God.
"But the argument then turns, you'll often hear in these kind of absolutist claims, that well, if you're talking then about God and if it doesn't include the understanding of the divinity of Jesus -- and the notion of Allah does not include the divinity of Jesus ... -- then you're not talking about the same God. Well I won't go into that argument in detail ... but this argument begins to break down very quickly..." he said.
When Christians claim their understanding of salvation is the absolute truth, they can cause great harm across the globe, Kimball concluded.
Specifically referencing Jerry Vines, Kimball said, "I think many of these people ... have a great deal of influence and authority and when they say these sorts of things, they're being irresponsible. And indeed they're being very, very destructive. It may play well in certain circles and they may see some checks come in, but they are doing tremendous harm all over the world."
However, James Leo Garrett Jr., distinguished professor emeritus of theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, offers that counterclaims to absolute truth lie at the heart of the confrontation of Christianity with other major religions, especially Islam.
"The Christian faith, rooted in the teaching of Jesus and the apostles, is built on claims to exclusive truth (John 1:14, 14:6, 9)," Garrett said in a written statement to Baptist Press. "The claim to exclusive or absolute truth does not rest with the individual Christian but inheres in the Gospel itself.
"Ever since the Arian controversy in the 4th century, orthodox Christians have affirmed that the deity of Jesus Christ belongs to the essential core of Christian beliefs about God. Names and titles of God are indeed important, but the reality represented by or associate with them is even more important," he said.
Leonard argued that claims of Christian exclusivism boarder on an infringement of religious liberty.
Discussing a recent episode of "Larry King Live," in which John MacArthur claimed that Christ is the only way of salvation, Leonard said, "When I heard John MacArthur on 'Larry King Live' that night, I wished that someone on the panel had said to him, 'Dr. MacArthur has every right to say that Jesus is the only way to salvation and that all other religions in the world are false. He has every right to speak about that out of his convictions. But that is precisely why we need religious liberty, because it is only half a step from saying that all other religions are false ... to saying that since they are all false, we must protect the innocent ones from their false doctrine and write legal sanctions against them.'
"So all the conversations about religious particularism are fine as long as we hold the reality of religious liberty because when religion starts talking like that, if the state changes, persecution can begin. Silencing begins."
In fact, Leonard said, until the 18th century, Baptists did not even believe that they needed to confront people of other religions with the Gospel. The foreign mission activity of William Carey and others led Baptists to develop a new conviction that they needed to insist upon the truth of Christianity to other religious groups.
"Eighteenth century globalism -- that is, the ability to get on ships and go to foreign lands ... -- was a major factor in the decision of some British Baptists and later Americans to change their theology, not just to modify it, to change their theology in response to their relatively new belief about ... reaching people they called 'the heathen' for the Gospel, believing it was the duty of Christians to take the Gospel to the world," Leonard said.
"Ryan Stanley, in his wonderful book on the Baptist Missionary Society, affirms that early Baptists had no vision of foreign mission until Carey and his colleagues appeared on the scene."
The Christian exclusivism associated with foreign missions is particularly problematic because of its implications for other world religions, he said.
"[Exclusivism] also implies that Christians are working toward a world where there are only Christians. That is a particular problem for many Jews who remember another effort to achieve a world where there aren't any Jews. Again, it suggests that Christians desire a salvific hegemony over all other religions. Segments of other religions also believe that, but it is particularly problematic for American Christians when we have the army to back up our hegemony."
"We need to confront the pluralism of other world religions the way our forbearers confronted the pluralism of Jews, Catholics and Quakers and learned to be different. In a truly pluralistic environment, every religion has the right to propagate and promote its views."
An examination of Baptist history, concluded Leonard, reveals a continuous tension between Christian exclusivism and pluralism.
"When I talk about this, somebody almost invariably stands up and wonderfully quotes John's gospel: 'I am the way, the truth, and the life,' which is fine. But if we're going to be literal about that, then let's trade literalisms and read Matthew 25 because in Matthew 25, there's a suggestion that on that great getting up morning, the ... ones who are welcomed into the Kingdom are those who fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the sick. And in doing that, the text says, even when they didn't know it, they were ... Christians," he said.
But Garrett counters that the Christians' mandate to present the Gospel to all human beings is coupled with a recognition that genuine faith is voluntary, not coerced, and indeed is accomplished through God's own agency (John 6:44).
"The entire modern movement for religious freedom and against persecution -- from Peter Chelcicky to Balthasar Hubmaier to Thomas Helwys to Roger Williams and beyond -- came out of the matrix of Christian faith and discipleship," Garrett also said in the written statement. "To seek for better relations with those of other Christian denominations who acknowledge Jesus as God's Son and their Savior and Lord has the support of John 17, but to embark upon interreligious dialogue the presupposition that truth claims must be surrendered before entering the dialogue not only has no basis in the Scriptures but also is a potentially dangerous betrayal of the Gospel in today's world."
According to a statement released by CBF officials: "The opinions and views presented in General Assembly ministry workshops are those of the workshop presenters and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of, or endorsement by, the Fellowship or its members. Holding to the principles of soul freedom and church freedom, General Assembly workshop presenters do not speak for the Fellowship or any of the Fellowship's members."
The 2003-2004 CBF budget, however, allocates $8,000 for production and marketing of a study guide for Kimball's book, "When Religion Becomes Evil." According to information presented in Kimball's breakout session, the study guide will be available on the CBF website, www.cbfonline.org.
|
FIRST-PERSON: Baptist ethics group trumps up SBC anti-Semitism |
Posted at Baptist Press
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)--In spite of their best efforts, enemies of the Southern Baptist Convention were unable to conjure up a controversy out of this year's annual meeting in Phoenix.
Yes, there were the homosexual "Christians," anarchists and Baptist peace activists who protested the SBC, doing their best to glob onto us for free press. And reporters were poised with their word processors warmed and ready for speakers to let loose on Islam, homosexuality or some other hot topic. Although the preaching and activities of this annual meeting were similar to past meetings that have garnered more attention, the press failed to find (or create) a spark of controversy.
In fact, several regular critics of Southern Baptists were impressed by the focus on addressing families in crisis and even the new effort to encourage ministry to homosexuals, while also maintaining the biblical teaching that such sexual perversion is contrary to God's standard of morality.
Still, some enemies do not rest in their constant attacks on the SBC. One such group is the so-called Baptist Center for Ethics. Created in 1991 as a "moderate" alternative to the conservative Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, BCE is led by a former colleague of mine during our joint tenure at the ERLC (then called the Christian Life Commission).
An obscure ministry funded by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, two state Baptist conventions, and churches, BCE's mission is "to provide proactive, positive and practical ethics resources and services to congregations," according to its website, where it also declares, "When we started BCE, we recognized that too often Christians have been known for what we are against. We were convinced that it was high time for thoughtful Christians to be positive and proactive."
Prattling on, BCE asserts, "So, we seek to reframe the way Christians think, talk and work on issues. BCE challenges Christians to be pro-health, not anti-alcohol; pro-women and pro-people of color, not anti-discrimination; pro-poor people, not anti-poverty; pro-family, not anti-abortion and anti-pornography; pro-sex education, not anti-human sexuality; pro-character development, not anti-moral failure. While it is more difficult to be positive than negative, we are committed to a constructive ethics agenda."
Got it? BCE is "positive" and "constructive." Perhaps "unethical" and "pro-anti-SBC" should be added.
Ethics did not stand in the way of BCE's smear on Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president R. Albert Mohler Jr. in its article on his June 16 speech to the Southern Baptist Messianic Fellowship. (In the interest of full disclosure, I note that I'm an alumnus, former administrator and current trustee of Southern Seminary.)
Since BCE was not in Phoenix, it had to rely on Baptist Press' coverage of the address. BCE's "positive" and "constructive ethics agenda" did not impede its slamming Mohler for his support of Jewish evangelism with an article provocatively and inaccurately headlined, "SBC Leader Compares Judaism to 'Deadly Tumor.'"
Lifting and distorting the reference from near the end of the BP article and placing it in the headline and second paragraph of its story, BCE reported, "While Jewish evangelism is controversial today, Mohler said Christians do Jewish people a disservice by failing to confront them with the Gospel. He compared it to a person with a potentially deadly tumor, who would rather have a doctor give a truthful diagnosis than say all is well to avoid offending him."
Here's the way BP reported it: "He illustrated Jewish evangelism by comparing it to a medical doctor. A person with a potentially deadly tumor would want a doctor who would give them a truthful diagnosis, not one who would, in an effort to avoid offending them, tell them that all is well. In the same way, Christians must tell unsaved Jews and all non-Christians the truth of the eternal danger they face and steer them to salvation in Christ, Mohler said, and thus proclaiming the Gospel is a genuine display of Christian love."
The important Mohler claim left out of BCE's report is that Christians are obligated to share Christ with all who have not yet followed Him -- that goes for any individual (Jew, Muslim, Catholic, Baptist) who is a non-Christian.
Specifically, BP reported: "'The act of Christian truth-telling, telling the truth of the Gospel to an unbeliever, Jew or gentile, is the ultimate act of Christian love,' Mohler said. 'Evangelism is not driven by imperialism. It is not driven by nationalistic objectives. It is not driven by materialistic concerns,' he said. Rather, evangelism is 'the love of one sinner saved by grace to another sinner that is compelled by a greater love -- and that is the love of that sinner for his Lord,' Mohler said. We love our Lord and thus we obey His commandments.'"
In its bald attempt for attention, BCE's story suggests that Mohler was guilty of some kind of anti-Semitic slur.
BCE also quotes a former Baptist pastor and expert on Jewish-Christian studies who rejects the notion that the New Testament teaches the necessity of Jewish evangelism. The story goes on to cite past statements and evangelism efforts by SBC leaders and entities to illustrate the strained relations between Southern Baptists and Jews in recent decades.
Predictably, the Anti-Defamation League seized on the BCE report to "condemn" Mohler's "offensive remarks." Abraham Foxman was "shocked and outraged that a leader in the Southern Baptist church would compare Judaism to a deadly tumor that needs to be removed." In a follow-up article on ADL's response, BCE found it ironic that the SBC adopted a resolution in Phoenix repudiating anti-Semitism.
It seems this Baptist group -- funded by Baptist Christians in the CBF and like-minded groups -- does not support Jewish evangelism. BCE's coverage is aimed at undermining claims like Mohler's and other Southern Baptists (and those of all true Christians since the First Century) that Jews need Jesus just like any other religious or ethnic group.
BCE's reporting on the Mohler address was unique. Even two other "moderate" Baptist media outlets not sympathetic to the SBC reported Mohler's comments in a balanced fashion. Further, The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C., evenhandedly noted: "Mohler said that if someone had a cancerous tumor, the loving thing to do would be to tell that person about a cure. Likewise, Christians should tell Jews, like everyone else, about Jesus, he said."
Its innovation in reporting this story earns BCE the distinction of being the first recipient of The Jayson Blair/New York Times Award for Creative Journalism, an honor I've decided to bestow, now and then, for particularly horrendous examples of biased and harmful reporting. No cash prize or plaque comes with the award; just the recognition BCE so desperately seeks.
Southern Baptist leaders like Mohler should be commended for courageously preaching Bible truth that all human beings are sinners and need salvation found only in Jesus Christ: "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Rom. 1:16).
James A. Smith Sr. is the executive editor of the Florida Baptist Witness.
/font> |
Female pastor tells CBF general assembly to beware of 'other watchful conventions' |
Posted at Baptist Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (BP)--Cooperative Baptists should beware of "other watchful conventions" that want to steal their joy and desire to dance, Sarah Jackson Shelton said during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship general assembly June 27.
Shelton, pastor of Baptist Church of the Covenant in Birmingham, Ala., didn't muster the courage to confront Southern Baptists openly, but veiled references to those who "will confront us on every side to inhibit our zeal and to take away our joy" were obviously directed toward the 16.2 million-member Southern Baptist Convention.
The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the faith statement of the SBC, reads in part that "the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture."
Shelton said that when she was a child she often danced in her family's living room, that is, until a neighborhood friend saw her dancing and laughed. She put aside dancing forever.
"At the age of seven, I initiated into my life the feelings of inhibition, humiliation, anger and disappointment that the misunderstanding of others can evoke," Shelton said.
She likened her own story to that of King David as he danced before the Ark of the Covenant. "While David's experience was one offered in joy, his uninhibited dance caused his wife to despise him in her heart. It created such repugnance for her that Michal refused to join the rest of her family for their celebrative blessing," she said.
Michal missed the main point of David's dance, she said. "Yes, David was king but more than that David understood his role as servant to the Most High King. David knew that his responsibilities were first to God and then to his people. The truth of the matter is Michal was left totally out of the equation."
In the same way, she said, many will not understand the pilgrimage of the CBF faithful. "If we truly believe that it is time to be Christ's presence in the world then we had best beware," she said.
"Sitting in Charlotte, surrounded by friends within the CBF, we find it wonderful to be carried away by the music and we are more than willing to do a quick 'two step,'" Shelton said. "In other words, we find the companionship enabling us to be brave and bold about who we are and what we believe. But when we return home and we are faced with the realities of our congregations, our communities and other watchful conventions it is all too easy for the music to wane and for our dancing to be inhibited, stilted and, ultimately, to cease."
Shelton said that the participants at the CBF had allowed conventional methods of ministry to define them rather than giving themselves "permission to color outside of the lines."
"For too long we have struggled with our sense of identity by trying to please those who cannot let go of Baptist trappings and continue to walk and talk political lines," she said. "For too long we have invested and drained our energy in the aloneness of being closeted CBF supporters rather than openly celebrating the joy found in relationships based solely on their integrity and that can provide creative outlets that can encourage and sustain us."
/font> |
Posted at Baptist Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (BP)--Jerry Vines again stunned pluralistic America with an exclusive claim about the Gospel of Jesus Christ during the SBC Pastors' Conference in Phoenix last month. Southern Baptists were waiting to hear what he would say, and he was more than ready to say it.
"All religions are not the same. All religions are not equally true. There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved except the name of Jesus," Vines said.
Imagine reporters querying SBC President Jack Graham about Vines' comments on the truthfulness and exclusivity of the Gospel. Would they have been dumbfounded had he deliberately but eloquently said, "The opinions and views of speakers at the Pastors' Conference are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of, or endorsement by, the Pastors' Conference or its participants?" I think so.
A similar event actually took place last week, but not in Phoenix and not with Graham. I went to Charlotte, N.C., to cover the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship as a Southern Baptist historian and journalist with a conservative Christian worldview. I returned disillusioned, but not about my conservative Christian worldview or Southern Baptist identity. I was dismayed by the CBF's refusal to take a firm stand on the most important Christian doctrines.
While I was obtaining my media credentials, I was directed to a statement in the CBF press kit. The statement said that those who spoke in ministry workshops at the fellowship's general assembly did not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the leaders or members of the CBF. The views expressed at auxiliary meetings, as well as "materials displayed and/or sold at the General Assembly Resource Fair," were also said to be the same; that is, not necessarily the viewpoint of the fellowship or its members.
I reported on the address of Tony Campolo, which at times seemed more like a Democratic party platform speech than a sermon.
I heard David Currie of Texas Baptists Committed once again reveal his disdain for the "uneducated" majority in the Southern Baptist Convention. After listening to his several negative statemants about Southern Baptists I remembered that Paul admonished Titus to have nothing to do with a contentious man.
I listened on several occasions to comments on how Southern Baptists had "gone astray," "been misled" or were "adrift from their traditional and spiritual moorings." I heard talk of acceptance, tolerance, the possibility of more than one plan of salvation and the evil nature of exclusive claims in Christianity.
Mind you, these views may or may not have been the viewpoints of the CBF's leadership. We will never know because the organization said it would not respond to questionable comments made during breakout sessions held at the CBF. I suspect that last year's fiasco with Reba Cobb's plagiarized sermon and the discovery of radical feminist literature on book tables at the general assembly resource fair birthed the statement.
What the CBF thought a clever response to the journalistic inquiries of conservative Southern Baptists reveals the organization's tragically inconsistent approach to defining itself. In fact, they purposefully avoid verbally defining themselves in order to be as inclusive as possible and make a home for a hodgepodge of theological viewpoints, some of them simply heretical in relationship to classical Christianity.
From an academic perspective, not all was bad. I heard an intelligent, cogent discussion on the relationship of fundamentalists and moderate Baptists by Fisher Humphreys and Philip Wise. I disagreed with their assessment of the motivating factors in the fundamentalist movement of the early 20th century but at least appreciated the scholarly presentation and absence of conservative-bashing banter.
In the end, however, I was grieved that the CBF expends so much energy upholding "soul freedom" and "church freedom," that is, attempting to be Baptist, that they appear to have forgotten how to uphold Christianity. Individualism is a key facet of Baptist life, but our Baptist forefathers never meant for their seminal concepts of liberty of conscience and autonomy to subvert sound doctrine or the declaration of it.
Yet, on repeated occasions unbiblical ideas inadvertently have received the nod of the CBF because the group is unwilling to draw even the faintest doctrinal parameters around itself.
Worse, they say that the great Baptists of the past would never have excluded anyone from fellowship on the basis of differences in doctrine. That is simply wrong. While Baptists have affirmed the right of all people to determine their own beliefs, and even form confessions of their own, they never have condoned the absence of sound doctrine or failed to champion the Gospel of Christ if given the chance.
The framers of the Second London Confession, printed in 1677, wrote that they hoped the "profession of truth may be accompanied with the sound belief, and diligent practice of it by us." I have yet to see a firm stand in this respect by the CBF.
If the leadership of the CBF cannot endorse the viewpoints of those presenting lectures or materials at their conferences, they should not invite such persons to speak. I would expect no less from any leader in the SBC.
The SBC is not a perfect organization, as is no organization conceived by human beings. But I applaud the courage of preachers who will, with clarity, preach the exclusivity of the Christian Gospel for the whole world. I applaud the fact that the SBC prizes verbal witness. I applaud their adherence to sound doctrine about the person and work of Christ. I applaud the SBC's willingness to say what it believes and rule out of bounds what is obviously unbiblical.
Otherwise, the SBC would go off the deep end just like the CBF did in Charlotte. By the way, thank you, Dr. Vines.
Gregory Tomlin is news director at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
| |
Posted at Baptist Press RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (BP)--In an expected move, the General Council of the Baptist World Alliance voted July 11 by secret ballot to accept the application of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship as a member body of the BWA.
The BWA membership committee recommended that the General Council approve the application for membership first filed by the CBF in 2001, and re-filed in 2002. The motion to approve the recommendation of the membership committee passed by a 75-28 vote.
The membership committee had telegraphed its inclination to recommend membership status for the CBF in last year's General Council meeting in Seville, Spain.
The membership committee, meeting earlier in the week to consider the application, invited two Southern Baptist representatives, O. S. Hawkins and Paul Pressler, to express the concerns of Southern Baptists about CBF membership.
The pair reported that a principal concern was that the CBF is not a separate, distinct convention as required by the membership bylaws of the BWA which explicitly require that "each member body shall have an identity of its own, and shall not exist as an integral part of some other union or convention." The CBF is generally seen by the SBC as a dissident group from within the Southern Baptist Convention.
In response to a question during General Council debate as to when the CBF would fully and openly publicize to Southern Baptists that they are a separate convention, and not a part of the SBC, CBF coordinator Daniel Vestal stated that he thought the group had declared as much during the fall of 2002.
A long-standing objection among SBC leaders is the manner in which the CBF counts churches affiliated with the group. While Southern Baptist bylaws require that a church be in "friendly cooperation" with the Southern Baptist Convention and its purposes, the CBF counts as a member church any one in which a single member contributes to the CBF financially, as long as the church forwards the contribution to CBF offices.
In June 2002, CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal stated to Baptist Press the group had told the BWA that it has "150 churches that have no relationship to the SBC at all, but are related to the CBF." CBF publicity materials claim between 1,800-2,000 church partners. At the 2003 CBF general assembly in Charlotte, N.C., Vestal reported that through May 1, the CBF had 1,720 contributing churches and that over the past 12 months 241 churches contributed to the CBF for the first time.
In addition, Pressler informed the membership committee that during its 2003 meeting, a CBF breakout session leader gave a lecture entitled "The Plan(s) of Salvation: When Conversion and Pluralism Collide," thus raising serious questions about whether the CBF holds to the exclusivity and sufficiency of Jesus Christ to save all, and only, those who come to God through Him.
Another concern addressed by Pressler was the tendency of the CBF to attack and misrepresent the SBC, as well as its beliefs and practices. The report of the membership committee to the General Council last year stated, "The usual practice of the Membership Committee when receiving an application from an applicant organization in public disagreement with an existing member body of the BWA is to delay acceptance until everything has been done to deal with ongoing disagreement, public conflict and hurt."
Stating they believed this provision applied to the relationship between the CBF and SBC, the representatives presented news articles detailing speeches and presentations at the 2003 CBF meeting which demonstrate the schismatic and belligerent attitudes and actions of the CBF toward the Southern Baptist Convention.
Tony Campolo, a CBF keynote speaker, asserted that the Southern Baptist Convention is guilty of espousing an "evil" position in holding that New Testament teachings do not permit a woman to take the role of senior pastor in a local church.
Pressler's news articles also cited the attack of David Currie upon Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson, charging him with being a "well meaning theological pervert." The head of Texas Baptists Committed, Currie is a frequent speaker in CBF sponsored meetings and a long-time proponent and apologist for the CBF.
Many of the Southern Baptist participants at the BWA meeting expressed their disappointment and dismay at the decision to accept the CBF as a full member body and observed that the Southern Baptist Convention may have found itself faced with a decision about its relationship with the BWA.
Charles Kelley, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and a regular participant in BWA meetings, said he thinks that Southern Baptist involvement with the BWA should be revisited by the SBC.
"The significance of the decision in accepting the CBF for full membership may only be the last straw which finally breaks a severely strained relationship stretching back several years," he said. "The heart of the issue is the basic understanding of Baptist identity and mission. Southern Baptists believe that Baptists are people of the Book, who historically have cooperated with others of like mind in order to call a lost world to salvation through faith in Christ alone.
"For several years, Southern Baptists have attempted to get a definitive and clear statement of the mission of Baptists to the world agreed to by the BWA, and we have been singularly unsuccessful. This is about much more than CBF membership. This decision serves to tell us a great deal about the direction of the BWA. I do not believe that it is a direction Southern Baptists intend to go."
In outlining Southern Baptists' objections to admitting the CBF to member body status, Patterson, a BWA delegate, said, "The CBF continues to focus on deception and criticism of the SBC while it attempts to entice Southern Baptist churches away from the SBC, and into the CBF fold.
"Also, in the absence of any clear statement of faith, the CBF has become home to a great variety of aberrant theological positions, including the acceptability of homosexual practice, the appropriateness of female pastors, contrary to New Testament teaching, and the endorsement of theological pluralism and the denial of the exclusivity of Christ for salvation. While we are grateful that not every person associated with the CBF holds these positions, it is painfully clear that many do.
"In short, the admittance of the CBF to full membership provides the ultimate confirmation that the BWA is moving toward increased antagonism against the SBC, the International Mission Board and biblical theology."
J. D. Greear, BWA participant and Southern Baptist pastor from Durham, N.C., also sees the problem as deeper than the CBF issue. He stated that on July 10, during a panel discussion, he had posed a question as to whether the BWA was willing to unequivocally affirm that a conscious decision to receive Christ was necessary for salvation.
"I was really shocked that some other participants jeered when I asked the question, but was even more alarmed that Denton Lotz dismissed it as a 'theological issue' that we weren't going to discuss further," Greear said. "I can't think of anything more basic or more Baptistic than proclaiming you have to consciously receive Christ to be saved."
A climate of overt criticism and attack upon the SBC in BWA meetings also concerns long-time Southern Baptist participants and General Council members.
"In the dozen or so years I've been participating in BWA meetings, I have never known of another member body being subjected, by name, to open criticism and censure," Patterson said. "During last year's meeting in Seville, a 10-minute tirade against the International Mission Board was allowed to continue uninterrupted though it was not on the subject under discussion. Not only was there no attempt on the part of BWA staff leadership to defuse the situation, there was no opportunity given to Southern Baptists to answer or refute the charges."
The commitment of Southern Baptists to be involved with the Baptists of the world traces back to the very beginning of the BWA. Morris H. Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee, said that it is the heart of Southern Baptists to relate affirmatively to Baptists worldwide who are committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the inerrancy and authority of Scripture, the exclusive nature of salvation through Jesus Christ and the mandate for biblical evangelism and missions.
In a February statement to Baptist Press, Chapman spoke about the openness and flexibility of Southern Baptists in relating to Baptist bodies worldwide.
"The BWA study committee has asked the Empowering Kingdom Growth Task Force to consider making Kingdom Relationships a platform within the EKG focus," Chapman told Baptist Press in February. "The emphasis will be to strengthen bilateral SBC relationships with Baptist bodies around the world. In the process we will learn whether we can best represent Southern Baptists to the world through our own efforts or through the BWA or both.
"The relationship-building initiative may well include Bible conferences and meetings about evangelism and church growth. We will visit our brothers and sisters in other countries and bring resources to share with them that have helped us in our efforts to reach the world for Christ. Likewise, we will learn about their efforts and what has worked for them."
The Southern Baptist Convention has provided the lion's share of member contribution to the BWA decade for decades. In the budget report distributed at the BWA meeting, the SBC was shown to have given $425,000 of the $626,926 total provided by all member bodies, which represents about two-thirds of the total.
During the 2003 SBC meeting in Phoenix, messengers approved a budget for 2004 which decreases its support for BWA to $300,000.
|