Instead of advancing as it ought, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in some ways is guilty of sliding backwards, declared Frank Page, president of the SBC Executive Committee (EC). The world is winning too many battles, he said, and “the evil one has splintered God’s people into so many directions that unity is at best an elusive goal.”
Page referenced the recently released information from the Annual Church Profile showing continued declines in practically every category including baptisms, average attendance and total giving (see The Alabama Baptist, June 13, 2013, page 7).
“We desperately need the hand of God,” Page added.
Concerning giving, the issues facing Southern Baptists begin in the local church where the average Southern Baptist gives only 2.3 percent of his income to the church. The average percentage of undesignated receipts channeled to missions and ministry causes through the Cooperative Program (CP) stands at 5.41 percent.
“If the issue of biblical tithing were settled in the local church, we would not be having the issues we’re having now,” Page said.
Earlier in the day messengers adopted a $191,500,000 CP budget, making this the third consecutive year the proposed budget was lower than the year before. $140 million of that total will be used by the SBC’s two missions boards; $41.4 million will support the convention’s six seminaries and $3.1 million will finance the work in Christian ethics and religious liberty; $5.7 million is marked as operating budget for the EC and administrative expenses related to the annual meeting.
If Southern Baptists were actually obeying God’s call to tithe, which Jesus confirmed, and were to give 10 percent at least and if churches were to go back to the historical patterns of giving at least 10 percent to missions causes through CP, Page said, “friends, we would see a dramatic increase so that we could send double, triple the number of missionaries that we now do.
“If Baptists were to give just 1 percent more,” he continued, “next year we’d see $100 million more go to support our seminaries, our mission board and all the ministries of the SBC.”
Page, who often refers to himself as the SBC’s Chief Encouragement Officer (CEO), also recapped some of the ways he has worked during the past year to help turn the convention to a more God-honoring direction in several key areas: prayer, ethnic participation and Calvinism.
Gary Frost, vice president for the North American Mission Board’s Midwest Region, and Gordon Fort, senior vice president for prayer mobilization and training at the International Mission Board, joined Page on the platform to pray for revival and unity within the convention.
During the past year, Page has been calling for increased involvement from ethnic groups in the leadership of the convention, and he reported that he has seen some encouraging signs.
Of the Hispanic Advisory Council in particular, Page said, “Information has been received, encouragement is deepening and this fastest-growing ethnic group is stepping up to the plate in involvement in Southern Baptist missions and ministries.”
By the year 2050, Page said, there will be no majority population in the United States. Instead, everyone, including Anglos, will be part of a minority people group. “And to reach this world for Christ we need to do it together,” Page said.
Page was joined onstage by pastors A.B. Vines and K. Marshall Williams of the African American Advisory Council and professor Daniel Sanchez of the Hispanic Advisory Council to pray for unity among ethnic groups in the task of accomplishing the Great Commission.
Another topic of concern to the convention, Page said, has been disagreements over Calvinism that have led to serious divisions. Page assembled an advisory committee on Calvinism last year, not knowing if any progress could be made.
The committee, Page said, endeavored to “start talking to each other and not about each other and at each other.”
What they found, he said, is that there are “massive areas, shocking to see, upon which we do agree. In fact, in talking with one another we began to develop friendships and we began realizing that we agree far more than we thought we did.”
The Calvinism committee released a report in late May calling on Southern Baptists to stand together for the Great Commission despite theological differences, and Page exhorted messengers to “live by the Christ-like principles” found in the report (see The Alabama Baptist, June 6, 2013, pages 4–5).
“I am not naïve. I know there will continue to be problems and difficulties, but I am convinced that if we will talk to each other, together we will see a unity that will allow us to win more men, women, boys and girls to Christ than ever before,” Page said.
Members of the Calvinism advisory group stood with Page on the platform.
Other EC recommendations approved by the messengers:
- broadened potential clients for GuideStone Financial Services beyond the SBC to include “like-minded individuals.”
- eliminated the District of Columbia’s automatic representation on SBC boards, agencies, commissions and committees. The District of Columbia is now combined with Maryland and Delaware as a “defined territory” for representation purposes.
- resolution of appreciation for Richard Land, the recently retired head of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. (BP, TAB)
Share with others: