The Great Commission Task Force Report 2010

 

            In 2009 the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention overwhelmingly authorized Dr. Johnny Hunt, president of the convention, to appoint a task force to bring a report and any recommendations to the Southern Baptist Convention in 2010. The purpose was to determine how Southern Baptists can work more faithfully and effectively to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission.

            In April of 2010 the task force finalized their report. Feel free to read it for yourself by clicking here.

            Even before the report came out, many pastors and denominational leaders began giving their thoughts on what it would contain. After reading the report and praying about it, I must lend my full support to passing it and its recommendations. But I want to explain why to my loving brothers and sisters who are sending me to the convention as their representative.

 

 

            There have been plenty of books written and numerous websites that give varied reasons why the Southern Baptist Convention was formed. There is no doubt that slavery played a large role, but (praise God!) no credible, godly person sees slavery as acceptable today. One thing is sure though – the Southern Baptist Convention was formed in 1845 so that more southerners could be appointed to home and foreign missions. (An example of this history can be seen by clicking here.)

            Over the past 165 years, there is no doubt that missions has been the heartbeat of our convention (as it should). Most members of our churches are proud of the mission efforts of our convention.

            However, there is a problem. A BIG problem.

            There are almost 7 billion humans on Earth. And if we are fairly lax in how we count them, there are only 1 billion Christians. That means 6 billion people are lost – hopeless – headed for Hell – and our efforts are not enough to reach them. We are losing ground.

            In North America the population is growing faster than the number of Christians. In 2008, Southern Baptist churches baptized ¾ as many people as we did in 1972. In 1950 we baptized 1 person for every 19 members; in 2008 we only baptized 1 person for every 47 members. We are reaching fewer people even though our population is growing.

            Recently, LifeWay Research presented sobering statistics (some of which can be seen by clicking here). Unless the 50-year trend changes, membership of SBC churches will decline from 16.2 million to 8.7 million by 2050. There will be half as many Southern Baptists as there are today. We are losing ground.

            One noticeable reason is financial. The average Southern Baptist gives only 2.5% of their income to the church – not even close to a tithe. In fact, the 2009 Lottie Moon Offering for International Missions fell $26 million short of the goal – which means we can now fund only 5,000 missionaries abroad rather than the 5,600 sent out in 2009. The world’s population is getting larger – North America’s population is growing – and we are sending out fewer missionaries. (To see the International Mission Board’s report on this click here.)

 

 

            There is no doubt that the chief reason we are not reaching our world is a lack of obedience – a loss of passion. This is a heart-issue which cannot be changed at a denominational level. It must be personal and at the church-level. We must humble ourselves, ask God for a passion to reach the lost at home and abroad, and do something about it.

            On the denominational level – the Great Commission Task Force looked at what we can do at the convention-level to change the terrible trend. I believe their suggestions are valid and might be the changes we need.

            Though this article is lengthy, I will not restate the 20+ pages of the official GCTF Report. Instead, I want to mention some of the components that have led to debate – and give my take on them.

 

 

            The report asks Southern Baptists to begin noting how churches give to all Southern Baptist causes (local, state, and national) rather than just focusing on what is given through the Cooperative Program. For the average SBC church member this will not matter, but when people are considered for offices within our denomination, this issue does rise. We have been pointing out what churches give to the CP and not mentioning what churches also give to individual SBC causes.

            To put it in terms I understand – the Cooperative Program is like one big bank account where SBC churches make deposits – and then all of our SBC entities receive money from it. It serves us well, but Southern Baptist churches give much more than this amount to specific areas and through special offerings (like missions, Baptist Children’s Villages…).

            Dissenters believe that noting all of our giving will lead some to give more to individual entities while lesser-known groups will suffer. I disagree.  We are already giving in both ways, and if a church decides to change the amounts/percentages it gives, that is between the church and God. That is the beauty of the SBC – we are not a true denomination – we are a group of churches with common beliefs that have chosen to work together to accomplish common goals (mainly missions).

            Let’s celebrate what we are doing to build God’s Kingdom.

            Besides – the 6^th Component of the Report seeks to increase awareness of and support of the Cooperative Program – not diminish it.

 

 

            The report asks Southern Baptists to affirm the NAMB with a priority to plant more churches where they are needed most, focus on large cities, and help mobilize Southern Baptists to be more missional. One way of doing this is to ask the NAMB to utilize the International Mission Board’s expertise on foreign groups to reach them when they are in North America.

            Dissenters believe that this would be more of a burden for the IMB. But think about it – you could send 2 IMB missionaries to Nigeria, and they would do great things for God. But if you asked them to first spend a few months helping a large number of NAMB personnel to understand how to reach Nigerians here in America, those newly trained NAMB missionaries would be able to reach Nigerians here – and they would then be sending native missionaries back to Nigeria. Sounds fairly strategic to me.

            And dissenters fear that pulling some of the NAMB focus out of the South would hurt our efforts. However, consider this: in New York State there are nearly 28 million people – that is more people than Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Missouri – combined! Where should more of our money be spent to reach people for Christ? (I’ll talk more about how we use our money below.)

 

 

            And whether people like to openly talk about it or not – this is one of the main reasons why some people don’t like the GCTF Report. The report asks Southern Baptists to affirm certain groups to give up some money – while giving other groups more.

            I’m OK with that – because the way we’ve been doing it isn’t cutting it.

            When a local church gives part of its budget to the Cooperative Program – that money goes straight to their state convention. The state convention keeps an average of 63.45% of that money to use in their state and sends what’s left to Southern Baptist causes. The GCTF Report asks states to go back to the traditional level of keeping 50% in state and giving 50% to SBC causes.

            Some people have said that 50% of our cooperative dollars goes to international missions. That is true and false. 50% of our cooperative dollars that get to the national level go to international missions, but only 36.55% of our cooperative dollars ever get to the national level. That means – when a church gives $1 to the Cooperative Program, the IMB only gets 18.275 cents.

            In Mississippi we aren’t even at the national average. We only give 35% of our cooperative dollars to the SBC – keeping 65% for ourselves (see for yourself by clicking here). I appreciate all that our state convention offers, but I honestly cannot agree that many of the “good” things we do are more important than reaching the billions of lost people in our world and millions in North America. It comes down to where our priorities are.

            Earlier I mentioned the vast number of people in New York (the estimate is that 27 million of New Yorkers do not have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ). Because there are so few Southern Baptists there, their cooperative giving was $893,248 in 1998. At the same time, consider what those southern states gave (since there are so many more Southern Baptists in the South): Mississippi gave $34,869,034 – Arkansas gave $20,785,888 – Louisiana gave $22,137,411– Oklahoma gave $26,090,606 – Alabama gave $44,983,974 – Missouri gave $15,672,331 (see the numbers for yourself by clicking here). These states (where more people are saved) gave over $164 million, and New York (with more people and less saved) could only give a little over $893 thousand. Where should more of our cooperative dollars go? To have nice gatherings, conferences, and the such – or to reach the millions of lost?

 

 

            I could go on and on – and you probably think I already have – but I won’t.

            I am Southern Baptist because I agree with the doctrines affirmed through our convention. I am Southern Baptist because I believe our polity is right.

            Southern Baptist do many good things. But as we have seen evidenced in most denominations, when we begin focusing on good things instead of the main thing, we lose ground. Jesus told us to go – reach the world – make disciples. And while our world has grown exponentially, our obedience has lessened.

            I will support the Great Commission Task Force Report. As your pastor, I believe I must. I ask you to pray that it will pass and begin a new day for our convention. And I ask you to pray that God would grant us a fresh, burning vision to reach our world for Christ – starting right here in Pascagoula.