A Problem That Won’t Go Away

Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting in San Antonio June 12–13 sent their entity leaders a message, but it remains to be seen how the message will be understood by the various institutions and agencies. 
  
The debate was about the role of the Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M), but the real issue was the action of two trustee boards — the International Mission Board (IMB) and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. 
  
Both boards have adopted theological guidelines for their personnel that go beyond the BF&M. About two years ago, trustees of the IMB announced they would appoint no one for missionary service who practices a private prayer language (glossolalia). Southwestern Seminary adopted a similar statement for its faculty in 2006. 
  
It is not accidental that the impetus for the action of both trustee boards came from Texas trustee members. 
  
The actions of both boards immediately drew harsh criticisms from some SBC sources. In fact, both boards initially recommended that a trustee who publicly dissented from the action be removed from the trustees. But cooler heads prevailed and both boards worked out problems through trustee committees. 
  
At the 2006 SBC annual meeting, messengers tried to bring the issue to the floor but all related motions were referred to the SBC Executive Committee for consideration. In February of this year, a compromise statement was negotiated and passed by the Executive Committee that said the BF&M is sufficient “to guide trustees in their establishment of policies and practices of entities of the Convention.” 
  
But the issue would not go away. In his report to the convention, Executive Committee President Morris Chapman told messengers, “Any practice instituted by an entity in the Southern Baptist Convention that has the force of doctrine should be in accord with the Baptist Faith and Message and not exceed its boundaries unless and until it has been approved” by convention messengers.
  
Later Southwestern Seminary President Paige Patterson told messengers, “What you do in your private prayer life is, frankly, no business of mine or Southwestern Seminary. But having so said, let it also be said that we are Southwestern Baptist (emphasis on Baptist) Theological Seminary … . We have stated openly and state it again that we will not be the progenitor of charismatic doctrine.”
  
Messengers joined the discussion through a motion to make the February statement of the Executive Committee the official statement of the convention. After lengthy discussion, the motion passed on a ballot vote by a 58 percent to 42 percent margin. 
  
But almost before the ballots could be counted and announced, some were trying to interpret the action. Yes, the approved statement is a guide but it is not sufficient, explained Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler, because the BF&M is silent about many issues — such as glossolalia. The trustees are still free to add doctrinal requirements they deem necessary, he contended. “We know who you are and what you expect of us.” 
  
So the debate about how far trustees should go in adding doctrinal requirements that exceed the BF&M goes on even though the messengers declared, “[The BF&M] is the only consensus statement of doctrinal beliefs approved by the Southern Baptist Convention and as such is sufficient in its current form to guide trustees in their establishment of policies and practices of entities of the Convention.” 
  
Some ask if the trustee boards in question really do “know who you (Southern Baptists) are and what you expect of us” in light of the recent LifeWay Christian Resources study that found about 50 percent of Southern Baptist ministers believe a private prayer language could be a legitimate spiritual gift. 
  
At a news conference following his re-election as president of the SBC, Frank Page questioned the advisability of any board adopting a divisive policy that excludes up to half of Southern Baptists from service.
  
Some ask about Baptist polity — How can trustees ask the convention to approve each statement the trustees wish to impose and still maintain authority to govern the internal affairs of the entity?
  
Still others point out that less than 4,000 messengers cast votes on this issue and ask how such a small percentage of Southern Baptists can express the corporate judgment of a denomination of 16 million.
  
Yet others argue that “secondary and tertiary doctrines” (such as glossolalia) should be debated and discussed without becoming divisive. It was Chapman who expressed concern. “Now other doctrines are beginning to be required aside from our adopted confession. It causes one to ask, ‘Where does it end?’”
  
Whether the action by the messengers will cause either trustee board to back away from its new policy remains to be seen. Honestly this writer believes it most unlikely. Whether the vote will keep trustee boards from imposing other doctrinal requirements is uncertain.
  
Still it is hard to understand the vote by the messengers as anything other than their expression of unhappiness and rebuke to the trustees involved for arbitrarily excluding Bible-believing Southern Baptists from service because of a practice most consider a secondary issue on which disagreement is allowed.