Dissatisfaction brewing within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) "could re-ignite a battle we don’t want to fight again," David Dockery warned fellow denominational leaders at a conference on Baptist identity.
The need for greater unity among Southern Baptists emerged as the overriding theme at the Baptist Identity II: Convention, Cooperation and Controversy conference held Feb. 15–17 at Union University in Jackson, Tenn.
However, presenters and participants frequently differed over which issues merit cooperation, which outside groups Southern Baptists should cooperate with and what methodology should be used. Some speakers also argued over just how far Southern Baptists need to go to uniquely identify themselves.
"Defining our circumference is necessary, but we should not expect or demand uniformity, lest we impose a straightjacket on Southern Baptists," said Dockery, Union president.
"The current frustrations and disappointments that some of our younger people have — and I understand their frustrations — could re-ignite a battle we don’t want to fight again," Dockery said. "We must seek to establish a new consensus. Otherwise, I fear we drift apart."
Dockery emphasized the need for a united front, saying biblical passages stressing unity, such as John 17 and Ephesians 4, are being ignored. And he suggested it is a lack of understanding of Baptist history that leads to disputes.
"Throughout most of the 20th century, being a Southern Baptist had a cultural and programmatic identity to it unlike anything else," Dockery said. "This kind of intactness provided Southern Baptists with an identity unmatched by any other denomination."
The self-evaluative conference came amid intradenominational disagreements among Southern Baptist conservatives, who have led the 16 million-member SBC for almost three decades.
Recently internal differences — over issues such as control and cooperation, speaking in tongues, the place of women in leadership roles, censorship and alcohol use — have signaled some unraveling at the edges of the denomination. For well over a year, some conservatives have expressed their displeasure with what they perceive as narrowing fundamentalism in some SBC circles.
SBC President Frank Page began the identity conference by urging Southern Baptists not to let peripheral issues divide them from their ultimate mission. "If we continue to break into factions that continue to fight each other and focus on turf-protectionism, the future will not be bright," said Page, pastor of First Baptist Church, Taylors, S.C.
"[The apostle] Paul didn’t say, ‘Whose side are you on?’" Page added. "He asked, ‘Are you preaching Jesus Christ?’"
Ed Stetzer, a missiologist at the North American Mission Board, told his audience that Southern Baptists spend too much time objecting to terminology and not enough working together toward achieving common visions.
"I am ready to see Southern Baptists united by our mission. Personally, I’m ready to cooperate, even with those who are different than me," Stetzer said. "I want to be in a convention where we agree on enough to get on mission. If we can’t do that, we should start preparing now for our ultimate denominational demise."
To be "missional," Stetzer said congregations must cooperate with other churches and contextualize their message to the culture. "Our churches must be culturally relevant, biblical, faithful, countercultural communities.
"Preaching against culture is like preaching against someone’s house. It’s where someone lives," he said. "We must pay attention to the culture if we are to be truly missional."
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson echoed the unity theme, chastising those who spread slander and gossip from within Baptist ranks.
"That should be shameful among any Baptists today," Patterson said.
Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University in Birmingham, called his unity speech a "summons to humility" and questioned just how much further Southern Baptists must go to uniquely identify themselves.
He admonished his audience to a "particularity in the service of unity" that preserves theological consistency but allows for ecumenical cooperation.
"Isn’t there something a bit narcissistic about focusing on our Baptist identity?" George asked. "There is a fine line between retrieval [of one’s religious traditions] for the sake of renewal, and retrieval for the sake of a projection of a Baptist-centricity that is self-serving and self-gratifying."
Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources, said that despite having SBC membership that is 130 percent larger than it was half a century ago, overall baptisms are down by 5,000 a year.
"On any given Sunday, only about 7 million [of the 16 million] Southern Baptist members attend church," Rainer said. "That which is dead cannot tell another dead person how to have life." (ABP)
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