If Southern Baptists want to see baptisms and church planting increase, then they must make changes that will be painful.
That was the message delivered by Ronnie Floyd, chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) Task Force. Floyd delivered that message during a recent teleconference with associational directors of missions (DOMs) sponsored by the Network of Baptist Associations, which represents 370 of the 1,100 associations across the nation.
Several Alabama DOMs who participated in the conversation wondered if the changes recommended by the GCR Task Force will have the desired results.
Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church, Springdale, Ark., said changes have to be made because Southern Baptists are not making a significant impact on “lostness” in North America.
“The process precedes the product,” Floyd told the DOMs. “If I want a different product, I have to change the process. Some of the processes in Southern Baptist life need to be addressed.”
Among the changes recommended by the task force are the elimination of cooperative agreements between state conventions and the SBC’s North American Mission Board (NAMB) through which the groups partner to support agreed upon programs and projects. The report calls for NAMB to develop a national strategy of church planting and do “direct” church planting, especially in major cities.
Alabama DOM Hugh Richardson of Shelby Baptist Association questioned the focus of the recommendation. “The biggest problem in penetrating lostness is not on a national level but on the local level,” he said. “That is where the ‘rubber meets the road.’ Many churches have a maintenance mentality. When they think of reaching people, it is for the purpose of maintaining what they already have.”
Pleasant Grove Baptist Association DOM Dan Wiggins responded, “I am not inhibited by the current processes (in penetrating lostness). I am inhibited by the lack of leaders in the harvest. I am inhibited sometimes by my apathy and need for renewal in my heart. I am inhibited by lack of prayer power and lack of vision and faith.”
Thomas Wright, executive director of Mobile Baptist Association, agreed, adding, “The report does not address how to rearrange the priorities in local churches of any size.”
Ken May, DOM for Montgomery Baptist Association, said, “I am not convinced the changes at the SBC level will challenge the ineffectiveness of so many of our existing churches in reaching the lost.”
Floyd told the teleconference audience, “We just believe that we need an overall national strategy. … Just like the International Mission Board is the guiding strategist toward touching the world … we’re saying that we want NAMB to be that. We’re saying they’re not going to do that in and of themselves.”
Wright commended the task force for acknowledging that NAMB struggles for relevancy but placed the problem on leadership, not strategy. “The failure of NAMB came because of a politically astute but strategically ineffective administration,” he said.
Wiggins observed NAMB could have had a national strategy “with the right leadership.”
“We certainly did not have it (leadership) with the last two presidents of NAMB,” he declared.
Wright, a former NAMB missionary, placed much of NAMB’s struggle with a change of philosophy. He said the partnership philosophy of Southern Baptists has been replaced by a megachurch philosophy that emphasizes a societal approach to missions.
“The megachurch philosophy replaced a strategic missions philosophy and brought NAMB to catastrophic, strategic irrelevancy,” he charged. “Any attempt to reorganize the SBC around a megachurch philosophy will result in equally catastrophic irrelevancy.”
Wright said megachurches generally do not need associations or state conventions and are often staff (top-down) driven. This allows them to conduct their own programs with multiple full-time staff, change directions quickly and appoint and support their own missionaries. All of this allows them to work societally rather than cooperatively with sister churches.
May pointed to the Acts 1:8 emphasis as an example of a national strategy led by NAMB and said he had found NAMB staff to be “significantly helpful to me in understanding and identifying key issues.”
Richardson added that he believes NAMB has focused on “making resources available to assist local associations, churches and conventions in carrying out their calling.”
The Alabama DOMs interviewed were unanimous that the task force recommendations will not increase partnership between churches, associations, state conventions and NAMB.
Wiggins said, “I believe this will decrease the partnership among us because where the money comes from and who controls it will become the focus of our attention. That will be the wrong focus and the wrong values to increase partnership. Many of the cooperative efforts to reach out to the downtrodden, jobless and Hispanic communities would be hard pressed to function if these agreements were done away with.”
Richardson said, “Ronnie Floyd said in the GCR preliminary report we must return to the local church as central in our denomination. I think the proposal is moving away from that and creating a top-down hierarchy with persons in a regional or national office being in direct control.”
Mark Gallups, DOM for Marion Baptist Association, warned that Southern Baptists should consider the potential impact of the changes proposed. “Changes in the past cost us the Home Mission Board and now we are losing America.”
Gallups said he agrees with Floyd’s call for repentance and spiritual awakening “but wonder to myself, ‘Who is he talking to?’”
“I am, as every DOM is, the face of the Cooperative Program (CP), Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong on the local level. … Now I am being pressured and shamed into a vote for a reorganization idea that is hiding behind the Great Commission,” he said. “I don’t believe the GCR Task Force understands the Cooperative Program. If they did they would be leading their churches to support the CP sacrificially, not sparingly.”
All DOMs in Alabama were contacted to find out who participated in the teleconference. Six DOMs indicated they had participated and, of those, five responded to questions posed by The Alabama Baptist.
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