The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention presented a plan to address both the statistical decline of the denomination and the ugly infighting that has overtaken them recently. It is known as Recommendation 10 in the annual Book of Reports.
Their proposal is depressingly predictable. More missionaries, more congregations, more ministers, more baptisms, and more money.
When it was presented, a motion was made from the floor to add a sixth goal: namely, “to eliminate all incidences of sexual abuse and racial discrimination among our churches.” This proposal was met with much enthusiasm and passed immediately.
It passed because it addresses the real concerns of Southern Baptist people, which are also among the reasons the denomination has been in such decline. They have failed to respond properly to charges of sexual abuse, to adequately integrate women into the leadership of the denomination, and to address the systemic racism prevalent within and throughout the American South, especially its churches.
I am no longer a Southern Baptist, but I care what happens there; and I have my own proposal for what they need to do over the next five years. Here are my five proposals.
One, elect a black man as president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
There is no black person elected to lead an agency or institution of the Southern Baptist Convention. Yes, a black pastor is currently chairman of the powerful Executive Committee; and a black minister is currently executive director of the Maryland-Delaware State Convention. These are big steps forward, but now Southern Baptists have an opportunity to put a black man in charge of an agency. The ERLC presidency is open because Russell Moore just resigned, under pressure (mostly because he was a Never-Trumpster). Now is the time to tap a talented black minister to lead this SBC agency.
Two, elect a woman as SBC president.
Ordination is too much to ask, as is the top spot at any of the seminaries or agencies. But the presidency is a temporary position, generally one to two years. It does not require ordination or even a ministry background: only intelligence, competency, and commitment to the SBC causes. There are plenty of women who measure up, of course, and this would send a signal so many SBC women long to see.
Three, create an office (perhaps within the ERLC) to implement the sixth goal of the recently approved VISION 2025: “to eliminate all incidences of sexual abuse and racial discrimination among our churches.”
Some administrative structure will have to be created somewhere to give oversight and energy to this new goal. The strategic plan covers only four years, as I read it, and it will take that long to create this office and get it staffed, funded, and operating. But it is something that needs to happen … yesterday.
Four, send overseas each year, for a one-year missions assignment, one of the persons serving as either the president of a seminary or an agency.
The SBC is about global missions, but the sad fact is that none—not one—of the men who lead these agencies and institutions have spent any time overseas in a ministry assignment. Perhaps for the first time in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention, this is a fact, a sad fact, a disappointing fact, one that impacts the focus and priorities of these agencies and of the SBC as a whole. This can be implemented on a rotating basis. Some will say it is not practical; and some will say these entities cannot function properly with a long absence at the top. But it will have the effect of globalizing the vision and interest of these leaders; and all of these entities, when they are without a president—often for as long as a year! —function just fine!
Five, take up an offering and give it away. Southern Baptists have been so good at raising money; they have raised billions for missions (and they are proud of it) and millions for endowments (and they are stronger for it). But all of these offerings are about their own budgets, their own buildings, their own organizations—in other words, they give money to themselves! But the gospel is about giving things away, of investing resources in others rather than in ourselves, in pouring ourselves out for others. Here is a practical way. Create an annual offering; call the churches to give; empower them to give away the money to individuals, organizations, and causes that minister to others, rather than using it shore up their own little kingdoms (either directly or indirectly).
So here they are:
1) install a black man
2) elect a woman
3) open an office
4) send an executive
5) give an offering
These are the kinds of things that will address the real reasons Southern Baptists have been on the decline for years and decades. Furthermore, they are all very practical and do-able. And they all can be initiated during the next five years!
(June 2025)
