Southern Baptists’ focused efforts to share the gospel in Chicago are intended for everyone who will hear it – not any particular religious groups, North American Mission Board President Bob Reccord said on a national radio talk show Jan. 7.
“We have only one group that we want to focus on, and that’s anybody that hasn’t had … the opportunity to respond to the claims of Jesus Christ,” Reccord said, responding to concerns the Strategic Focus Cities initiative in Chicago will focus on other religious groups such as Jews or Hindus.
“Our view is the gospel is for everybody, and we believe that’s exactly the same view that Scripture has,” he said.
Reccord was a guest on “That’s the Law,” a program on legal issues and Christianity hosted by attorney Herb Titus on the VCY America radio network, based in Milwaukee, Wisc.
“The last thing we would ever want to do is that [target Muslims or Jews more than anyone else],” he said. Southern Baptists are fulfilling Christ’s call to “love one another” by going to Chicago at the invitation of local Southern Baptists, Reccord said, asking, “How can we change people’s lives and minister to the city?”
“We would just say our desire, like any evangelical, is to share the wonderful news of Jesus Christ and what he can do to change a life,” he said.
Reccord also responded to charges from the statement by religious leaders in Chicago that the initiative would prompt a rise in hate crimes.
Such misunderstandings are a result of how society has defined tolerance. (BP)
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