The big story coming out of the 2007 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) was the action by messengers declaring the Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M) a "sufficient" doctrinal guide for SBC agencies and institutions. Now, on the eve of the 2008 SBC annual meeting, that question of whether the BF&M is sufficient is again on the table.
On May 5, the International Mission Board’s (IMB) regional leader for Central and Eastern Europe, Rodney Hammer, resigned in protest of two "guidelines" implemented by the IMB trustees. Later he released a detailed account of the disagreement with what he called "extrabiblical narrowing of parameters for Southern Baptist cooperation." (see full text of letter below)
Hammer charged the guidelines — related to baptism and private prayer language — have been "implemented as de facto, hard policy" that "overly restrict and disqualify many good, conservative, God-called and otherwise qualified Southern Baptists from missionary service through the IMB."
These are the same two guidelines that messengers to the 2007 annual meeting protested in adopting the statement related to the BF&M as a sufficient doctrinal guide.
Hammer’s resignation over them did not come lightly. In his open letter, he relates efforts to protest against the guidelines through the IMB organizational structure. The result was a formal reprimand. Later he lobbied for regional leadership to give trustees input related to the guidelines.
After many months, his request was granted. But Hammer wrote that the leaders’ input that the guidelines hurt "our legitimate candidate pool" and "the work and morale of many missionaries on the field" and were unnecessary due to "the lack of any field realities requiring" their use was "summarily dismissed."
But the issue is not Hammer’s resignation. The issue is his cause. Have IMB trustees gone beyond the doctrinal parameters adopted by Southern Baptists in the 2000 BF&M for evaluating candidates for missionary appointment? If so, do the trustees have a right or responsibility to do so?
On private prayer language, there is little debate. The IMB flatly rules out any missionary candidate who practices a private prayer language. Yet the BF&M is silent on that topic. Also, according to a LifeWay Research study, about 50 percent of Southern Baptist pastors believe a private prayer language could be a legitimate spiritual gift.
Concerning baptism, there is little disagreement on the meaning of the ordinance. However, Hammer and others charge the IMB guideline "puts the emphasis on the faith/beliefs of the baptizer, rather than the one being baptized." He calls this "a shift away from biblical teaching and Baptist tradition."
It was exactly the concerns raised by Hammer that forced this issue to the floor of the 2007 annual meeting. And it was exactly these concerns that caused SBC Executive Committee President Morris Chapman to tell 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.
To the IMB’s credit, the trustees were originally using the term "policy" but decided to change it to "guideline" as they debated the issues of private prayer language and baptism. But Hammer charges the change in nomenclature has made no difference in reality.
When one asks about the right or responsibility of trustees, one asks a polity question about how Baptists work together. In SBC life, when a board is established, it is not created by churches. It is created by a state or national convention, and the board is then responsible to that creating convention.
Some argue boards have a teaching role toward cooperating churches and can make guidelines that churches should adhere to in order to use the boards’ services. That is a dubious argument. In Baptist life, the autonomous bodies are the church, the association, the state convention and the national convention. If a church chooses to cooperate with one of these bodies, then the church is entitled to all the resources of that body including its entities.
An autonomous body can exercise a teaching role toward a local church in terms of membership requirements, but that is not an option for a board. The board’s role is to serve the churches of the sponsor — local, state or national. That means boards must comply with decisions of the sponsor, even if they disagree with those decisions. It is wrong for a board to spurn the guidance of its parent body.
At last year’s annual meeting, some entity heads immediately reacted against the action of convention messengers in approving the sufficiency of the BF&M. At least two seminary presidents explained the BF&M is a basic statement, a minimalist statement, and that they had to go beyond its boundaries in selecting faculty.
There is some justification to that understanding. But the action of the messengers was not directed toward cross-dressing — an example used by one seminary president. It was directed toward the IMB for its guidelines concerning private prayer language and baptism and toward Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for its stand ruling out any faculty member who promotes a private prayer language.
It should be remembered that 58 percent of the messengers declared the BF&M a sufficient doctrinal guide. If Hammer is correct and the IMB trustees are using what they now call "guidelines" to exclude missionary candidates who would otherwise qualify for appointment, then the IMB trustees owe Southern Baptists an explanation.
If Hammer is wrong in his judgment, then the trustees can help Southern Baptists understand how these guidelines are being used.
Full text of Rodney Hammer’s letter …
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION
Dear Southern Baptist Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
My name is Rodney Hammer, and I have the privilege of being an International Mission Board (IMB) missionary of the Southern Baptist Convention. My wife and I have shared the gospel in three of the eleven regions of the IMB over our almost 18 years of overseas service, the last 10 years being in regional leadership positions. I most recently was privileged to serve the IMB and the superb missionaries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as regional leader.
I love working with the missionaries and people of CEE, but I resigned as regional leader in order to share my convictions about IMB missionary candidate policies. I am expected as a regional leader to accept, own, and support the policies of the IMB Trustees. I can do so no longer.
I am in fundamental disagreement with the current IMB missionary candidate policies concerning baptism and private prayer language, and the unnecessary, extra-biblical narrowing of parameters for Southern Baptist cooperation in the Great Commission they represent. While I have other serious concerns, I believe the missionary candidate policies are most in need of redress and illustrate most significantly why change is needed.
WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?
The IMB is its people. The missionaries and Board personnel ARE THE IMB and what makes it great in so many ways. IMB personnel deserve not only continued prayer and financial support, but also a Kingdom-oriented, transparent, accountable, BF&M-aligned trustee board and missionary candidate policies and guidelines that do not exceed the only consensus doctrinal parameters of the SBC nor move us from sounder biblical moorings. Even more importantly, the unreached people groups, the unevangelized of the world’s cities, and the lost without Christ everywhere compel us to biblically maximize our efforts and missionary force, not restrict it unnecessarily.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE POLICIES?
The current “guideline” (a de facto policy) for IMB missionary candidates regarding baptism puts the emphasis on the faith/beliefs of the baptizer, rather than the one being baptized. This seems to be a shift away from biblical teaching and Baptist tradition.
BF&M 2000 Article on Baptism
“Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.”
Romans 6:3-5 “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 and the Holy Scriptures put the emphasis on the work of Christ, and the faith and testimony of the believer being baptized into Christ, not the particularities of the beliefs of the Christian administrator of the baptism.
The new missionary candidate policy regarding baptism goes beyond the above consensus doctrinal parameters of the SBC, and Scripture, adding extra-biblical stipulations concerning the church and administrator of the baptism. It also puts the IMB in the place of the autonomous, local Southern Baptist church in determining the validity of a candidate’s baptism…and worse than that insists to some that they re-baptize the missionary candidate. Organizational compliance is not a biblical reason for baptism or rebaptism. A Southern Baptist church member whose baptism by immersion, after regeneration, in obedience to Christ and as a testimony to their faith in Christ was accepted by a Southern Baptist church should be acceptable for service in a Southern Baptist entity or agency.
PRIVATE PRAYER LANGUAGE
In regards to the “guideline about private prayer language” (another de facto policy), three things should be noted.
- Much of the discussion and rationale given for needing such a policy forbidding missionary candidates from having a private prayer language was that there were widespread problems regarding this among our missionaries on the field. Regional leaders demonstrated that was not and is not the case.
- Many biblically conservative Baptist scholars disagree on the hermeneutic that was used to support disqualifying candidates who pray privately in a prayer language.
- Our Trustees were assured that the vast overwhelming majority of Southern Baptists could not and did not support the concept of private prayer language. This contention was proven false in a survey by LifeWay research last year.
I will forgo revisiting the ample cessationist and continualist viewpoints on spiritual gifts. I will simply say this…in our IMB Manual for Field Personnel we have a robust, sufficient policy against the advocating of any particular spiritual gift as normative for all believers, or the public use and causing of division by such advocacy or practice. This policy is enforced whenever necessary, although that is rare. It has been an adequate protection against inappropriate behavior or teaching.
What we are talking about now is the forbidding of a private prayer language. Private. Prayer. We have no business going into anyone’s private prayer closet who calls Jesus their Lord and Savior, nor forbidding otherwise qualified Southern Baptists from service through the IMB because they may pray differently in private than you or I may, nor judging any current or potential IMB policy-abiding missionary to privately utilize under the Lordship of Christ a gift they believe is bestowed upon them by the Holy Spirit. There was and are no field realities requiring or necessitating such a move.
Upon the outcry in opposition to these policies from many Southern Baptists, IMB Trustees made minor, cosmetic semantic changes and made both “guidelines.” However, they are applied as de facto policies comprehensively.
We’ve been led down a Landmarkist ecclesiological path by some influential IMB Trustees. They used unfounded rationales to justify missionary candidate de facto policies that overly restrict and disqualify many good, conservative, God-called and otherwise qualified Southern Baptists from missionary service through the IMB.
WHO IS BEING DISQUALIFIED?
Dozens and even hundreds of Southern Baptists for short and long-term service through the IMB, INCLUDING SOME CURRENT STUDENTS OF OUR SBC SEMINARIES, who…
…are God-called to cross-cultural missionary service.
…are members of an SBC church for at least 3 years.
…are conservative Christians baptized by immersion after conversion as a testimony to their faith in Jesus Christ.
…affirm the BF&M.
…meet the qualifications for service OTHER than the new, overly narrow restrictions.
…are willing to abide by IMB policy and parameters.
…are willing to sacrificially go to the ends of the earth.
HOW DO I KNOW THESE THINGS TO BE TRUE?
I have attended multiple IMB Board of Trustee (BOT) meetings per year now for the last 8 years. I am personally well acquainted with the methods, policies, and practices of our collective Board of Trustees, its leadership, and their impact on our work on the field, our support within the Convention, and upon candidates for missionary service. It brings me no joy, and no personal gain, to express these concerns and appeal for change. I have no illusions of any real or perceived personal influence within the SBC. However, I firmly believe that God would have me express these concerns further, and to advocate for those who can no longer serve through the IMB due to these policies. I will trust God to do with it what He desires.
Regarding the policies, I sought to dialogue and express my concerns along the way. I waited, prayed, sought counsel, and asked for wisdom and peace from the Lord to move on when they were enacted two and a half years ago. While I sought to address the overseas committee and entire trustee board unsuccessfully, I did internally discuss with staff, my regional committee and some trustees for almost one year. After those efforts I made one public appeal for reconsideration of the rationale given and the policies that were enacted. I was formally reprimanded. I accepted that and submitted myself again to Senior Leadership and to the policies and direction of the Board.
The IMB BOT received much concerned feedback and decided to review the policies on baptism and private prayer language. Again I waited, prayed, sought counsel from Scripture and others, dialogued with some Trustees and asked for wisdom and peace from the Lord to move on. I repeatedly requested the opportunity for myself and other regional leaders to give our perspective and field input into the review process. It was finally granted after many months. But then our field leadership input that the policies hurt our legitimate candidate pool, the work and morale of many missionaries on the field, and the lack of any field realities requiring such policies was summarily dismissed.
I have sought to pray, understand, yield, reconsider, search the Scriptures, and dialogue with Senior IMB leadership and Trustees about these concerns and policies over the last two and a half years now. I have submitted to them. I have watched as the supposedly softened “guidelines” are implemented as de facto, hard policy and many a good missionary candidate is turned away. I know of some personally, I hear of many others. I am expected as a regional leader to accept, own, and support the policies of the IMB Trustees. I can do so no longer.
I had to resign my position as regional leader because of my biblical convictions and leadership from the Lord to dissent further and to advocate for those Southern Baptists who cannot serve through the IMB now, and have no voice.
I believe part of the reason for the decline in the SBC is the unnecessary narrowing of parameters for Great Commission cooperation. I know for sure it is keeping us from getting many additional Southern Baptist missionaries, turning off a younger generation of future missionaries and leaders, and harming the confidence of some IMB missionaries in their stateside supporters and Trustees.
I simply want to appeal to our IMB Trustees and Southern Baptists to return to a sufficiently conservative, yet broader consensus and parameters reflected in the BF&M 2000 for missionary service through the IMB. I am asking that all born again, bible-believing, BF&M affirming, otherwise qualified Southern Baptists who are called to overseas missions and desire to serve through the IMB be allowed to do so…for the glory of God, the betterment of the SBC, and the sake of making disciples among all nations.
Respectfully submitted,
Rodney L. Hammer, Regional Leader
Central and Eastern Europe, IMB-SBC
p.s. Let me state unequivocally that I love our IMB Trustees in the Lord. I appreciate their voluntary service. I recognize that they love the Lord Jesus Christ and wish to see Him glorified among the nations as well. I appreciate that they have put up with my own faults as well. There are many who serve with no agenda other than faithfully supporting Southern Baptists’ obedience to the Great Commission, and to send and support God-called Southern Baptist missionaries. Some have worked behind the scenes to resist the implementation of these policies and opposed these practices. A few have dared to publicly dissent until such was also voted out of order. I appreciate them greatly. I also love and appreciate those with whom I disagree.
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