SBC 08 - My Analysis and Hope - Continued
Published: June 18, 2008
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The Future
David Dockery, who did a great job preaching at the SBC, has identified 7 streams of Southern Baptists. Trevin Wax listed the seven types as:
* Fundamentalists: hard-lined people who often have more in common with "independent" Baptists than with the SBC heritage.
* Revivalists: true heirs of the Sandy Creek tradition, including their suspicion of education.
* Traditionalists: heirs of the Sandy Creek theology, including the strong commitment to evangelism and revivalism, but affirming of education.
* Orthodox Evangelicals: an irenic group that looked to Carl F. H. Henry and Billy Graham as models. This group wanted a theological course correction, a commitment to the full truthfulness of the Bible, serious intellectual and cultural engagement, while interacting with all who would claim to great orthodox Christian tradition.
* Calvinists: a group that wanted to reclaim aspects of the "Charleston" theological tradition. They have much in common with the "Evangelical" group above. Sub-groups include "Nine Marks," "Sovereign Grace," "Founders," and others. Most among this group no longer tend toward isolation as in years past.
* Contemporary church practitioners: a group of pastors who wanted to find new ways to connect with the culture, resulting in new models for doing church, including "Willow Creek Models," "Saddleback Models," "Missional," and even some "emergent church types."
* Culture Warriors: another group of conservatives who desire to engage the issues of culture and society. This group includes a variety of approaches including "church over culture," "church transforming culture," as well as "church and culture / social justice types."
Within this spectrum, some say we are unalterably headed toward oblivion and others want to say we are just fine. I would reiterate that without change, our course over the last 50 years does not look positive. I pray that our future will be filled with a continued tone of gospel-focused, biblically sound, properly relevant, missional engagement both here and abroad so that all facets of our tribe can fulfill our ambassadorial role for Christ. Through the challenging days of the Conservative Resurgence, we came to agree in the inerrancy of scripture. Now we should rely fully in its sufficiency for a Great Commission Resurgence.
When someone wins, many people assume that someone else lost. But I believe that logic does not hold in a denominational context. Some say the "establishment" lost. Others say it won.
However, even the term "the establishment" is an odd one and no longer particularly useful. Am I the establishment because I release the denominational statistics? What about seminary presidents, state execs, mega-church pastors. I would say that there is no longer correct to say "the establishment." And, that may be difficult for those who want to be THE establishment.
So, I don't think it helpful to trumpet who won and who lost. Instead, I think we talk about the future. And, that is a future we need to head into together.
I hope we can all see the importance of all of these groups "singing" together in the choir of leadership rather than demanding the need to be the soloist. If only three of Dockery's seven are allowed to sing, the music will continue to dim. I, for one, would like to see a robust choir singing of God's plan for the nations. That is what our "one sacred hope" should be about-- conservative Southern Baptists cooperating across tertiary differences because we can reach the nations better together than we can apart.
I am not naive on the issue of cooperation. Some will say, "let's just cooperate and not worry about theology." Five years ago I wrote my first nationally published article to disagree with that notion. In it I asked, "Can We Do Missions Without Doing Doctrine?" And, the answer, was "no."
Today, I would ask the same, but also add, "Can we do missions now the have agreed on our doctrine?" In last year's SBC sermon I said:
[I]f we have to agree on everything, our mission will amount to nothing. Wasn't the promise of the conservative resurgence that we would get to the point that we agree on enough that we can now reach the world for Christ? When will that come? I'm ready. Are you?
It felt that this year the SBC said, "Yes, we're ready."
Conclusion
What do we do now? I guess each person would have their own desire so let me give my own opinion. What I want is no different from what I said preaching at last year's SBC:
You can read the SBCLife version here, the full version, and watch a video snippet here, but let me close with these words (excerpted from the SBCLife version):
Luke records [in Acts 16], After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to evangelize them. Could we leave this Convention with a passion for mission? Could we leave this Convention with a vision for the people of our community? After we hear the cry, "Come over and help us," can we cry out like Isaiah, "Here I am, Lord, send me"?
God help us that we might be focused on His mission for His purposes, and that His name and His fame might become more widely known.
Originally posted by Ed Stetzer on 6/13/08.
Copyright © 2008 Ed Stetzer. All rights reserved.
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SBC 08 - My Analysis and Hope
Published: June 18, 2008
This year, we did not hear swipes at Rick Warren, Calvinists, the emerging church, or contemporary music. Instead, we heard Jimmy Draper tell us we were in "free fall," Johnny Hunt said we were dying, and Al Gilbert pointed to our need for appropriate change.
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