MEMBERSHIP MATTERS Who Put the “Southern” in “Southern Baptist”?
Session 5
Purpose
Because so many of our prospective members do not come from a Southern Baptist background, this brief session is designed to explain why this church has chosen to remain “in friendly cooperation with” the Southern Baptist Convention, and what that means.
Brief History
The SBC emerged out of the need to better support and facilitate missions, both here in North America and around the world.
In 1814, the American Baptists founded the Baptist General Missionary Convention, known as the triennial convention because it met every 3 years. Its purpose was to coordinate the funding of international missionaries, like Adoniram Judson.
In 1845, the American Baptists, and the Convention they founded, split over 2 issues:
1. Should a central sending board, or local sending boards, send missionaries? South wanted central.
2. Could slaveholders be sent as missionaries? South said convention didn’t have authority to decide.
3. Also, south wanted to meet more often.
At about this time, and a little later, almost all of the major Protestant denominations would split on north/south lines.
The South split off in 1845, and formed the Southern Baptist Convention, founding at the same time two sending boards: the Foreign Mission Board, known today as the International Mission Board; and the Home Mission Board, known today as the North American Mission Board.
In 1859, the SBC also began to coordinate funding of theological education with the founding of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.
In 1891, the Sunday School Board was established, which is now known as Lifeway Christian Resources, the largest Protestant publishing house in world.
Today
There are 40,000 local churches in friendly cooperation with the SBC, with about 16 million members on their rolls, though actual attendance is much smaller.
Six Seminaries: Golden Gate, New Orleans, Southwestern, Southeastern, Midwestern, Southern
IMB–nearly 5,000 missionaries
NAMB–North America
Annuity Board–retirement and insurance
Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission–sanctity of life, pornography, etc.
Executive Committee
Southern Baptist Foundation–Trustee for SBC trusts
How do churches cooperate?
Three ways historically:
1. Local associations (county)
2. State associations
3. National association , such as SBC
Each is independent of the other, so it is not a hierarchy. One can’t control the other or tell the other what to do.
Why? Because we are congregational. These associations are not the church. They are voluntary associations of churches for purposes of evangelism, missions, training, etc.
How does a church cooperate with the SBC?
Friendly cooperation consists of general agreement with the doctrine, ecclesiology and convictions of the SBC, as outlined in the Baptist Faith & Message; and financial contribution to the causes the SBC supports, like seminaries, missions, etc.
The SBC is a meeting, not a corporation, which meets for 3 days each year. Otherwise, commitments are carried out by the Executive Committee and various agencies.
Churches participate in governance of the SBC by sending messengers to the annual Convention. There we vote on the trustees who oversee the various agencies, we vote on the officers of the Convention, most important of which is the President. He picks the Committee on Committees, which nominates the members of the Nominating Committee, which nominate the Trustees that oversee everything the SBC does.
But the most important way we cooperate is financial.
Cooperative Program
The Cooperative Program is the central budget of the SBC. It’s the way Southern Baptists pool our resources to fund our efforts to accomplish the Great Commission.
Even small churches can participate. The general way money is given is through the State Convention, which passes approximately ½ of the money on to SBC. Because of the theological liberalism of our state convention, DCBC, we give our entire cooperative contribution directly to SBC.
IMB–50%; NAMB–22.79%; Seminaries–21.64%; Executive Com – 3.32%; ERLC –1.49%; Annuity Board–0.76%
Why this is good
Typically, independent missionaries raise their own support, spending 20% of their time in the US. But SBC missionaries are fully funded, so their furlough is spent resting and training, not raising money. It’s good for the missionaries.
Also, SBC missionaries don’t just evangelize, they plant churches. So it’s good for the world.
And the SBC protects the theological calling and direction of missionaries. So it’s good for us in terms of accountability.
Conclusion
Ultimately, if the SBC dissolved, we would continue to be a church. So the convention doesn’t really affect us day to day. So it’s a very undenominational denomination. But with the conservative resurgence, what the SBC is doing in terms of missions, evangelism and theological education is increasingly excellent. On balance, it’s not simply a good thing for us to do – it’s a strategic opportunity. It identifies for others who we are and what we believe. And it allows us, through our giving, through our Trustees, and through our relationships, to exercise positive spiritual influence within the largest Protestant body in America, and through them, the rest of the world.
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