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Resurgence, Texas-style


DALLAS (BP)–Last November, messengers to the 10th anniversary of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention annual meeting passed a resolution that defines “Great Commission Resurgence” pretty well. Perhaps the document can be a complement to the statement proposed for the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Louisville next month.

Many will know already that SBC President Johnny Hunt, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President Daniel Akin and others have called for a missionary resurgence as a follow-up to the already established Conservative Resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s.

Their motivation is that evangelism and missions have not flourished in the SBC during the past 50 years, indicating a deep problem we should address in some way.

Akin’s formulation of 12 axioms has become the centerpiece of Johnny Hunt’s presidential agenda. They’ve set up a website, and many are speculating on an extensive plan for restructuring the denomination that could grow out of what Hunt hopes will be a groundswell.

I believe the SBTC’s resolution is complementary to this emphasis because it has a finer focus. It is more local in its source, was more local in its editorial process and was adopted by a smaller denominational fellowship. The resolution rose up from the grassroots as an effort to clarify a term that was becoming a buzzword in denominational circles.

There is a “we will” or “we do” aspect to resolutions that makes them personal. Rather than calling for someone else to do something, the resolution begins with the messengers, although there is certainly an implied “ought to” for other believers and churches.

One example of this grassroots spirit is the expanding conviction among local pastors that expository preaching has multiplied advantages for teaching the whole counsel of God. Another might be increasing efforts by churches to ensure that church members are regenerate and well-grounded. The SBTC resolution did not cause these positive trends but did encourage them and served as a personal affirmation of these local church virtues for convention messengers.

The resolution also attempted to take the actual wording of the Great Commission and apply it to local church ministry. This is beneficial in keeping the implications of the exhortation grounded in scriptural priorities. Where Jesus says “All power has been given to me,” the resolution recognizes His lordship and authority.

In answer to the call to make disciples, the resolution commits the messengers to disciple-making. Jesus also commanded us to teach as a part of disciple-making; the resolution commits those who affirmed it to teach the members of “our churches.” The command to teach was further clarified to indicate “all things” that Jesus’ disciples had been taught. The next “resolved” is to “promote and practice text-driven preaching and teaching of the whole Bible.”

Where our Lord commands us to go to all nations with the Gospel, the resolution commits its adherents to be “Christ’s witnesses both at home and abroad.”

There is also an appropriate Baptist flavor to the resolution. The last “resolved” specifies basic Baptist interpretations of doctrine as a crucial part of teaching “all things.” This application is fitting because we are Baptist Christians — believing that the doctrines that define “Baptist” are based on the best understanding of our Lord’s teaching.

Why would someone want to be a Baptist if he doesn’t believe in the lordship of Christ, the inerrancy of Scripture, salvation as exclusively by grace through faith in Christ, believers’ baptism by immersion, regenerate church membership, congregational church polity, the priesthood of believers, church discipline and religious liberty?

For our state convention, the Great Commission Resurgence is a call to the essentials of local church ministry. That is the complex though simply-stated answer to all the problems of Southern Baptist churches and denominational bodies made up of Southern Baptist churches.

Our convention ministry addresses these priorities by resourcing the teaching, evangelism, doctrinal, missionary and spiritual work our churches undertake. We can’t fix a church problem, but we earnestly listen, observe, analyze, pray, plan and implement with a goal of matching appropriate resources to help churches succeed in their God-given ministries.

That’s the denominational component we bring to the commitment our convention messengers made in a resolution last November.

Nothing in our resolution is contrary to Akin’s Great Commission Resurgence document. Ours is a local and practical response to the call of our Lord to love Him by obeying and love others by sharing.

On the SBC side of the question, many speculate what will come of Hunt’s plan to form a task force to develop denominational responses to the Great Commission. There are a few things I’d like to see result from Hunt’s leadership. These are things the national denomination is able to provide for the local and global ministries of Southern Baptist churches:

— A thorough, unapologetic commitment on the part of leaders, spokesmen and employees to being Baptist. No more “I’m a Southern Baptist, but ….” We all understand that our convention is not perfect in detail or in whole. Skip the disclaimer. People generally dismiss the phrase before the “but” as less important than the one after. If Baptist doctrine is simply an earnest effort to discern biblical doctrine, no apology is needed.

— Continued provision of biblically solid resources and training for churches, associations and state conventions. The span of services provided in states and communities by our seminaries, mission boards, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, GuideStone Financial Resources, LifeWay Christian Resources and the Executive Committee is pretty broad. Discover the priority services Southern Baptist churches require and ensure that those are sufficiently addressed by some means even as we rethink our convention’s structure.

— Specifics regarding programs and agendas that undermine Gospel-centeredness. No one denies that we go off on harmful tangents, although we might not agree on which efforts are tangential. To repeatedly — in sermons, publications, seminars, on blogs or in tweets — make veiled “prophetic” statements about people and agendas without being willing to speak plainly sows division as much as anything else we do. Tell us what you mean every time you say it.

— Consistent modeling of the virtues upon which we all agree. Let our meetings, our guest preachers, our programs, our new initiatives all be disciplined to avoid unbiblical preaching, pompousness, shallowness and waste. If Southern Baptists believe the Cooperative Program is a God-blessed tool for addressing the Great Commission, let all those we exalt be exemplars of this specific kind of missionary support.

— A sacrificial example of denominational streamlining. I agree that organizational reform, like doctrinal reform, never stands still. We are either advancing or retreating. The SBC has only moral influence over other levels of denominationalism. Show us how important reform is by what our convention leaders do in their own ministries.

I agree with the idea of a convention-wide spiritual emphasis to more perfectly follow Jesus’ commands. What could be more basic? I’d love to see a focused and effective commitment to basic Baptist doctrine and action begin with denominational leaders and catch fire in state conventions, associations and, most importantly, in churches. More likely, that wave will start in churches and move outward, though. And that seems like the way it ought to be.

A Great Commission Resurgence is a different sort than the earlier reformation of the Southern Baptist Convention. It was relatively easy to inform grassroots Baptists about theological infidelity within some of our convention institutions. It was real, demonstrable, surprising and outrageous to their eyes. They changed denominational leadership thoroughly so that the teachings of the churches were reflected in the institutions the churches built. It wasn’t easy.

But the challenge of plotting and implementing a comparable rework of the way our convention does missions and evangelism looks vastly more complex and harder to explain. It’s a spiritual problem already on the mind of nearly every church leader in our convention. No surprise, no ignorance, no “show up and vote” solution to the problems.

Convention leaders, elected and employed, have influence and regularly use it to address one part or another of our cooperative mission. Hunt and Akin have set out to do that in a more expansive way than we often see. I pray that this effort will bear good fruit within our convention and among our churches.

I also pray that more pastors and local leaders will catch a vision for the basic mission of all Baptist Christians and let it begin with their own ministries. When the two visions, from our SBC leaders and from the churches, meet in the middle, then we’ll have the thorough reformation and revival we desire.
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Gary Ledbetter is editor of the Southern Baptist TEXAN, newspaper of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, online www.texanonline.net.

The following is excerpted from the SBTC resolution titled “On the Great Commission Resurgence,” approved by messengers in November 2008:

RESOLVED, that on the tenth anniversary of our convention, that the messengers to the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention in Houston, Texas, November 10-11, 2008, express our heartfelt appreciation to those who worked diligently to bring about a Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we express our sincere gratitude to those who were led of the Lord to birth the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we recognize the Lordship of Jesus Christ and submit to His authority in every aspect of our lives including His Great Commission; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we hereby commit ourselves and our churches to carrying out the Great Commission of our Lord by making disciples; and be it further

RESOLVED, that as we pursue a Great Commission Resurgence that we intentionally work to teach the members of our churches the precious doctrines from the Word of God that will distinctively preserve our Baptist identity; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we devote ourselves to both promote and practice text-driven preaching and teaching of the entire Bible and how it relates to Christ and God’s redemptive plan; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we lead the members of our churches to participate in the Great Commission by being Christ’s witnesses both at home and abroad and proclaiming the gospel message that everyone must repent of sin and trust in the finished work of Christ alone for salvation; and be it finally

RESOLVED, that we covenant together earnestly to preach and teach “all things” as Christ commanded in the Great Commission without minimizing or trivializing biblical doctrines such as: the Lordship of Christ; the inerrancy and sufficiency of Scripture; the exclusivity of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone; believers’ baptism by immersion; regenerate church membership; congregational church polity; the priesthood of the believers; church discipline; and religious liberty.

The full text of the resolution is available at www.sbtexas.com.

    About the Author

  • Gary Ledbetter