Southern Baptist seminary president talks change in chapel

August 20, 9:19 AMSouthern Baptist News ExaminerMarty Duren

Previous Next

18 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Southern Baptist News Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

  Dr. Albert Mohler   Photo Copyright 2009, SBTS.

The president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, yesterday gave what will likely been seen as an early preview of the work of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force. Dr. Albert Mohler, head of the oldest seminary in the Southern Baptist Convention, spoke for an hour drawing parallels between the SBC, General Motors and shopping malls in a ten point talk on denomination's future.

Mohler, who regularly writes and speaks about the gospel and culture, is a veteran of the "Conservative Resurgence" which brought all the denominations entities under the control of theological conservatives, was chosen by current Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt to serve as part of the twenty-three member task force to evaluate convention effectiveness and recommend a course for a returned emphasis on the Great Commission.

The history filled message reached as far back as the founding of the Southern Baptist Convention in Augusta, GA, to the challenges today's Southern Baptists face in bringing the gospel to the world in ways that are biblical and relevant. Mohler's ten points summarized the challenges he believes the denomination faces. Summarized, they were:

1) Will the SBC have a missiological or bureaucratic logic?

2) Will the identity of the SBC be tribal or theological?

3) Is our work together convictional or confused?

4) The SBC must decide whether our logic is going to be secular or sectarian.

5) The SBC will either become younger or dead.

6) It will either become more diverse or more diminished.

7) The SBC will either become more missional or more methodological.

8) It will become more strategic or more anemic.

9) It will become more bold or more boring.

10) The SBC must decide whether we are going to be happy or bitter.

Mohler spoke of the need for a "missional" rather than a "methodological" way of view SBC organizing. He warned against a weak theological confession that creates churches filled with "moralistic therapeutic deism." He rebuffed convention members for living lives that appear bitter even when claiming to be happy and encouraged churches to become "missiological think tanks" when trying to get the gospel into our culture.

For some in the SBC a message such as this, spoken by a messenger of Mohler's stature, signals a true change may be in the offing. "In one of the more significant talks in recent years of Southern Baptist life, I believe Mohler clearly explained that we cannot hold on to the past or be satisfied with the present, and the future will be determined by those who have the courage and conviction to chart a course based on the mission of God and the advance of the local church," said Timmy Brister, Associate Pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, FL. "We need to replace our old tribal identity with a renewed gospel identity, and a large part of that begins by focusing on what we are for rather than what we are against."

Others see Mohler's warning as coming a little late in the game. One pastor's tweet yesterday read, "[He] preached a message that is now 4 years old, at least." Dr. Todd Littleton, Pastor of Snow Hill Baptist Church, Tuttle, OK, agreed, saying, "Dr. Mohler demonstrated his ability to synthesize what many within and without the SBC have been noting for at least 10 years." Littleton also believes that the root message is being missed. "I would have hoped to hear in his ten points at least some reference to the primacy of love. Love for brothers and sisters and love for the other. We tend to lop off segments of our body who do not follow the leaders in lock step. Ed Stetzer, President of Lifeway Research, has contended for some time that we have 'preached out' our most creative leaders and are in danger of preaching out our most competent. The Apostle Paul notes that love surpasses knowledge. I would like to see more of that kind of talk. I contend we need a Great Commandment Resurgence before we move forward."

While Mohler spoke in hopeful tones giving his message, the substance was always as to how the denomination might be saved and not whether it should be. Alan Cross, Pastor of Gateway Baptist Church, in Montgomery, AL, wonders whether denominational bureaucracies even have a long term viability. "It is great just to know that these issues are being addressed in SBC life and I'm excited they are. I'm concerned, though, that In the SBC, this talk is seen as groundbreaking, when it has been rehashed over the last few years in organizational theory. We are cheering that we realize there is a problem, when the reality is that we may end up trying to save a system that the rest of the world has already recognized is not viable."

If Mohler's message is any indication of early discussions on the GCR Task Force then Orlando messengers may begin to expect recommendations based on strong shifts in the philosophical underpinnings of what it means to cooperate together and, indeed, what it means to be Southern Baptist. With the denomination in increasing decline and decreasing influence, this can only be good news for concerned members.