Keith Harper - SBC FAQs

I love the SBC. Ive studied how she functions since I was a child. I recognize that understanding the SBC can be confusing. Keith Harper and Amy Whitfield have done a great service by making the SBC easy to understand for those who want to learn more. You should take advantage of this easy-to-read volume and enjoy!

Micah Fries, senior pastor, Brainerd Baptist Church, Chattanooga, TN

The Southern Baptist Convention was founded for the sake of the Great Commission. It has always existed to facilitate churches reaching the nations for Christ. Harper and Whitfields new resource provides background to our conventions history and vision, helping us engage in the mission with our heads, our hands, and our hearts. The question and answer format makes it an easy, readable, and engaging resource. Every member of the SBC needs to have this at their side.

J. D. Greear, pastor, The Summit Church, Raleigh/Durham, NC

This book is a must read for any person that desires to know who Southern Baptists are. Its written with knowledge and passion about a denomination that exists to be a difference maker.

Johnny Hunt, pastor, First Baptist Church of Woodstock, GA

I commend to you this new book, SBC FAQs, by Keith Harper and Amy Whitfield. Most people outside the Convention do not understand how we operate and, unfortunately, that is also true for most inside the Convention. Harper and Whitfield do a masterful job of simplifying what is a complicated system and process. You will appreciate this primer on Southern Baptist Convention polity and processes.

Frank S. Page, president and chief executive officer, Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention

Keith Harper and Amy Whitfield know Southern Baptists. They are Southern Baptists. They know us on paper and in real interaction. You can trust their answers.

Kevin Smith, executive director, Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware

SBC FAQs

Copyright 2018 by Amy Whitfield and Keith Harper

Published by B&H Academic

Nashville, Tennessee

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4627-4844-0

Dewey Decimal Classification: 286.132

Subject Heading: SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION \
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS \ SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCHES

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible, Holman CSB, and HCSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

The web addresses referenced in this book were live and correct at the time of the books publication but may be subject to change.

All diagrams and graphs are courtesy of Ryan Thomas.

Images courtesy of the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, Nashville, Tennessee.

Printed in the United States of America

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VP

Dedicated to Danny Akin,

whose commitment to cooperation is

an example for every Southern Baptist.

I t was June 2006 when I (Amy) walked through a tunnel into the Greensboro Coliseum and first saw the Southern Baptist Convention in action. I watched in awe as a sea of paper ballots rose in the air time and again, and President Bobby Welch led 11,639 messengers through two days of actions that would affect the year to come. It was like watching a symphony. But as a new member of the orchestra, I often wondered what was happening and at times was unsure of what I was doing. I knew I had a great responsibility, and I wanted to approach it with the necessary deliberation.

After those two days, I determined to never stop learning about the processes of Southern Baptist cooperation. In the words of Aaron Sorkin (and perhaps Harry S. Truman), Decisions are made by those who show up. But showing up must mean more than our mere presence. We come together to make decisions about how we will work together for the spreading of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. It must involve more than raising our hands in the air. It must involve our minds and our hearts. When we act, we should seek to understand.

This work is a compilation of questions we have asked ourselves and have heard from others over the last several years. It is by no means exhaustive or final. New questions will arise as people continue to discover and learn. And as the Southern Baptist Convention works together in real time, answers may require adjustment or expansion. But as the conversation develops and the mission continues, this work will develop as well.

SBC FAQs is a ready reference for first-time messengers and longtime messengers, for students, and for church members in the pew. It is a project that began with a look in the mirror and a desire to answer the questions from over a decade ago of a young Southern Baptist who sought to understand. We truly can do more together than apart, and this is best accomplished by an informed commitment to participation. We hope our readers find answers to their questions. Even more, we hope our readers will be inspired to engage in the process of cooperation more deeply, so that together we may pursue the mission of Christ.

The Southern Baptist Convention is a body of people who are members of churches that have chosen to participate in cooperation with one another. The Conventions purpose is to provide a general organization for Baptists in the United States and its territories for the promotion of Christian missions at home and abroad and any other objects such as Christian education, benevolent enterprises, and social services which it may deem proper and advisable for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God.

The Southern Baptist Convention began in Augusta, Georgia, on May 8, 1845. Its stated intent was to be for the purpose of carrying into effect the benevolent intention of our constituents by organizing a plan for eliciting, combining, and directing the energies of the denomination for the propagation of the Gospel.

The committee that met in Augusta insisted that this lack of approval was a deviation from the original intent of the General Missionary Convention, and that the requirements for missionary service were stricter than they had previously been. The Triennial Convention of the General Board had originally advocated for the principle of a perfect equality of members, from the South and the North. Under its constitution, the standards for missionary service were full membership in a church of the denomination and full evidence of a Christian life. The committee believed that the General Boards decision (or lack thereof) amounted to a change in policy and thought that their only option was to leave the General Missionary Convention of the United States and form their own missionary-sending alliance of churches.

they have also affirmed a commitment to the denominations stated purpose, the Great Commission. Southern Baptists of the twenty-first century must necessarily acknowledge the reality of their beginnings, but they must also be ready to move forward in action with open eyes to the stated purpose for cooperationthe propagation of the Gospel.

A convention is one form of a deliberative assembly. It is a large group of individuals, typically serving as representatives of smaller groups, who come together at a certain appointed time to make specific decisions. It only exists at the time that it is officially called into session.