SWBTS trustee opposes stance

In a five-page letter Oct. 16, Texas pastor Dwight McKissic declared his opposition to a vote by trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) in Fort Worth, Texas, to disassociate the institution from Pentecostal/charismatic doctrines and practices such as a private prayer language.

McKissic was the lone opposing vote to the SWBTS stance approved by trustees Oct. 17. He said the new policy tells “potential faculty, administrators, students, donors, and the entire Southern Baptist family … that Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is not a place where a diversity of views about the work of the Holy Spirit within the history and theology of Baptists is tolerated.”

He said the stance shifts “the historic position of Southwestern Seminary from a place of open and diverse theological discussion within the parameters of the Baptist Faith & Message to a de facto cessationist school” that believes some of the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit have not been operative since the New Testament church.

Citing the description of such practices as a private prayer language — which McKissic said he experiences — as “unnecessarily divisive,” he asserted, “The source of division in Southern Baptist life is not from those of us who want more of God’s empowering presence in our lives … . The source of division seems to come from those who wish to silence and deny us the freedom to serve in a convention that has never in its history spoken definitively on this matter.”

McKissic noted, “… I do not understand the agenda of those who wish to drive into the shadows those of us who are open to this area of the Spirit’s work, as clearly attested in Scripture.”

McKissic referenced controversy at the International Mission Board where the president, Jerry Rankin, has acknowledged his practice of a private prayer language and where trustees have adopted a policy against appointing missionaries who engage in the practice. “I now know what … Southern Baptist missionaries must feel when they are told that they are unqualified to serve because of a work of the Spirit in their private devotional life.”  (BP)