I grew up in Southern Baptist churches (TX, AL), studied theology at a Southern Baptist university (UM), and currently serve as a church planter in New York City with the support of a Southern Baptist agency (NAMB) and our local Southern Baptist association (MNYBA).
If you read my blog or even attend our church plant, you may not have known that about me. Our denominational affiliation isn’t the first (or second or third) thing I talk about, but I am proud to be a part of the Southern Baptist Convention.
I felt the need to address some issues that are happening internally in the SBC because I feel these issues impact our society and the greater evangelical movement of Christianity. So, if you are not familiar with our polity or procedures in the SBC, that’s okay. (If you want to get caught up to speed, you can just read through my tweets from the past couple of weeks. You can also search the #sbc18 hashtag to see what people are talking about.)
The one thing I hope you’ll understand for the purpose of this blog post is that the SBC speaks through resolutions. Each year at our annual meeting we gather to elect officers, hear reports from our various SBC agencies, and adopt (or reject) resolutions. Through our resolutions, the SBC takes an official stance on any number of issues. Resolutions are the collective voice of our 46,000 member churches.
I haven’t seen a fraction of the more than 600 resolutions that have been submitted to be considered by our Resolutions Committee. But what follows is a short list of resolutions I have seen that I wholeheartedly endorse.
On the Dignity of Women
Jason Allen, president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary authored a strong resolution entitled “On the Dignity of Women and the Holiness of Ministers” but it has already been endorsed by dozens of national and state entity heads, seminary presidents, and local church pastors. Through a change.org petition it has also gleaned more than 800 additional signers.
You can read the full resolution on the Dignity of Women here.
Related: Since posting this article, I heard back from Kathy Litton that a resolution had been submitted On the 100th Anniversary of Women as Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention. It should also be noted, that so far this is the only resolution I know of that was authored by women. Would love to see more!
On Gun Violence
Patrick Thompson, pastor of New City Church in Queens, NY authored this strong resolution on Gun Violence. Unlike major news outlets, this resolution does not approach the issue from a political standpoint. You won’t read NRA or CNN talking points in this resolution. Instead, this resolution is balanced and recognizes that something must be done in America. Patrick does a good job of approaching the topic of Gun Violence from a biblical perspective rather than an American or political perspective.
You can read the full resolution on Gun Violence here.
On Racial Unity
This SBC resolution on Racial Unity is co-authored by Danny Akin, Michael Turner, Dwight McKissic, and Cameron Triggs. There are something like 40 or 50 resolutions on Racial Unity that messengers have adopted over the years, but I think this resolution is worthy of our consideration in 2018 for several reasons:
- Our cultural moment has intensified the debate on racial tensions in recent years. As a result, we must continue to think and speak to the issue. We need a renewed call to listen to our neighbors who are of a different race or ethnicity from ourselves.
- This resolution is unique because it a) acknowledges the misuse of Scripture to justify the founding of the SBC b) acknowledges the recent 50th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr and encourages us to value MLK’s contributions even if we cannot agree with every particular part of his theology or life.
- This resolution was a collaborative effort by four authors (named above) who are old and young, white and black. Again, this is a balanced and biblical resolution that doesn’t rely on talking points from conservative talk shows or mainstream media.
You can read the full resolution on Racial Unity here.
On Immigration
This resolution was submitted by Brent Epling, a deacon at FBC Charlotte and student at Midwestern Seminary. The full title is “On Immigration and the Global Refugee Crisis”. In the resolution, Epling encourages Southern Baptists to treat immigrants and refugees with dignity and to consider them as “people whom God loves and has given us an opportunity to reach with the gospel where otherwise they may never have heard.” I hope we can all agree that it is wrong to rip hundreds of children from their parents as a deterrent to refugees seeking asylum at our borders.
You can read the full resolution on Immigration here.
On Adoption
Brent Epling also authored a resolution “On Adoption, Foster Care, and Orphan Care”. According to the resolution, there are over 150 million orphans around the world. He recommends that we not only recognize the picture of the gospel that is evident in adoption, but also that we would preach, teach, and encourage couples and families to consider adoption and foster care. We value the sanctity of human life and strongly advocate for the life of the unborn, but we must also practice what we preach by caring for the fatherless.
You can read the full resolution on Adoption here.
On Opioid Abuse
This resolution submitted by Chad Keck and Peyton Hill addresses the Opioid Abuse and Addiction crisis we are facing in our communities. According to the resolution, 64,000 Americans died last year alone due to opioid abuse.
You can read the full resolution on Opioid Abuse here.
On the Plight of Arab Christians
This resolution is written by K.V. Paxton, Lead Pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Quinlan, Texas. Paxton writes, “As a Palestinian-American and a SBC pastor, my heart is with the plight of Arab Christians in hostile lands. My desire is for our denomination to consider the difficulties of being an Arab Christian, and to recognize them as family in Christ. My hope is that this will communicate to them that they have our prayers, that we are praying for them, and that they are not forgotten.”
You can read the full resolution on the Plight of Arab Christians here.
It is my hope and prayer that Southern Baptists will come together in Dallas to adopt these and other important resolutions. Again, this is how our convention speaks to the issues of the day from a biblical perspective. We don’t get everything right all of the time, but these are a few “no-brainers” that will enable our convention to speak against the abuse of women and minorities and other injustices facing our society and our evangelical culture. FoxNews and MSNBC can’t speak speak to these issues the same way Jesus’ Church speaks to them and I’m grateful to those who authored the above resolutions for our consideration.
I invite anyone who has authored an official resolution to link to it and comment on it below. I might even feature it above. If you are Southern Baptist and have a view on any of the resolutions linked here, feel free to share your thoughts, but please keep it respectful and gracious. If anyone goes off on a rant or an unrelated rabbit trail I reserve the right to delete your comment. I also invite those who are not Southern Baptist to speak constructively into our denomination. We welcome your input, but this is not the place for slander. Those types of comments will also get deleted.
Image credit: sbc.net
