Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) President Paige Patterson renewed his call for 100,000 Southern Baptist to participate in a summer program in Chicago called “Strategic Cities Focus.”
In comments referencing the widely publicized opposition by a council of Chicago religious leaders to the SBC evangelistic and ministry in the city later this year, Patterson reiterated the call to Southern Baptists to participate alongside Chicago-area Baptists in the outreach.
“(The religious leaders) said, ‘Don’t come. You are purveyors of hate crimes with your evangelism,’” Patterson recounted, noting, “I cannot begin to tell you how dangerous that statement is.
“It therefore behooves us … to go and assist the poor and the disenfranchised,” Patterson said, noting great churches are known for loving “all the people in the community that nobody else loved.”
“Let’s go to Chicago and love and be gentle to all,” Patterson continued.
“Let’s go to Chicago and witness to every single person who will listen to us.
“Let’s go to Chicago and explain to them that we have no choice except to obey the commandment of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“And while we’re at it, let’s be very careful and very much aware of contemporary attempts to suppress religious liberty, because they’re beginning to happen on every hand,” Patterson said.
The word, “target,” has been used particularly by critics of various SBC evangelistic initiatives and in the media, Patterson said, agreeing with those who regard it as “an irritating word.”
“There’s no place in our vocabulary for targeting people,” Patterson said. “We don’t need to target anybody. What we need to do is get the gospel to everybody. That’s simple enough, isn’t it?”
Patterson made his comments in an address to the Executive Committee Feb. 21 in Nashville. (BP)
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