Why I Love My Southern Baptist Friends and How I'd Like to "Fix" Them

I was very honored to receive the invitation from Dr. Keith Harper (SEBTS) to contribute to the volume Southern Baptists Re-Observed: Perspectives on Race, Gender, and Politics. It is a terrific book, many fine essays, and below you’ll find a summary of my own.

I came to faith through a Baptist church. I was nurtured into theological education through a Southern Baptist pastor working in Australia. I went to a Baptist Seminary. I’ve attended some great Baptist churches. I have always felt welcomed, appreciated, and honored in Southern Baptist settings. Goodness me, I’d even trade Sydney for Wake Forest and Louisville! Plus, I’ve met many wonderful IMB missionaries from Inverness to Perth.

My all-time favorite Southern Baptist must be Timothy George, former dean of Beeson Divinity School, the paragon and paradigm of a Christian scholar and gentleman. Close behind is Russell Moore, who until recently was head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission—I initially did not warm to Russell, but he has since assuaged my concerns and impressed me with his Christian statesmanship in our volatile political era. Russell is not currently in an SBC church, but he is historically SBC.

Thus, it is in light of my experience of Southern Baptist people and Southern Baptist churches and institutions that I intend to offer an appreciation of the Southern Baptist way of following Jesus and then, in the friendliest manner I can muster, issue a few polite challenges to them from someone looking in from the outside.

Things I Admire about the SBC

Hospitality and Collegiality

When I have been a visitor to Southern Baptist institutions, I have never been made to feel like a stranger or outsider. I have always been treated in a manner befitting a foreign dignitary living in exile. I have been fed, looked after, fed some more, taught, edified, fed yet again, appreciated, complemented, and somehow fed even more food.

Belief in the Primacy of Preaching

To quote the second Helvetic confession, “The preaching of the word of God is the word of God.” I have seen this to be the case in many SBC churches. The proclamation of Jesus the incarnate Word and the creative exposition of the inspired written word of God has—rightfully—held a prominent place in SBC churches. I am confident that, if I were to step into an SBC church almost anywhere in the United States on any given Sunday, there would most probably be a wholesome and vibrant sermon.

A Culture of Promoting Missions

If one were to play a word association game, the mere mention of Southern Baptist Convention should immediately conjure up the words either “missions” or “evangelism.” The world is filled with Southern Baptist missionaries doing a variety of ministries from evangelism, to church planting, to community aid programs. For well over a century, the International Missions Board has sent men and women to all corners of the globe to make Christ known and to share the compassion of Christ.

Commitment to Theological Education

The SBC has some of the largest seminaries in America or even in the whole world. I have been fortunate enough to visit many of these institutions as a guest, and it has always been a positive experience. Several things have stood out to me: a commitment to providing affordable and quality theological education; recruitment of top lecturers and competent administrators; making facilities attractive and beneficial to students; pastoral care of students; and embracing the online teaching revolution.

A Pro-family and Pro-life disposition

Article 18 of the Baptist Faith and Message (2000) declares the value of family for both society and the church, it accepts a biblical definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman, and it implies the right to life of the unborn. While I might want to change a clause or two about wives and husbands, as well as make sure we do not idolize either marriage or children, I am in essential agreement here.

Cooperation and Partnership

One advantage of the Baptist system of church governance is that it allows the independence and autonomy of the local church, and yet churches can still come together and cooperate in things like education, missions, aid and relief programs, and various other projects.

Commitment to Historic Christian Orthodoxy

Look, I won’t get into the “Conservative Resurgence” debate, but I’d rather attend a church where they’d rather read something by John Stott than the latest thing from Oprah’s bookclub.

Things within the SBC that Concern Me

Prizing Conservatism over Orthodoxy

Sometimes I feel that SBC leaders are more committed to a brand of conservatism than to historical Christian orthodoxy. Within Christian orthodoxy, by which I mean the apostolic and catholic heritage of the church, even when interpreted through the lens of Baptist distinctives, there is considerable room for diversity and disagreement. But I fear that such room is constantly shrinking in the SBC as its leaders demand strict conformity to an ever-increasing expanse of beliefs and practices that are not essential to being orthodox or even Baptist. In its worst expression, this ethos leads to a fear of not being the most conservative person in the room.

The Lack of Catholicity

I will never forget the very bizarre experience I once had at a meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, where in one seminar the provost of a prominent Southern Baptist seminary stated that he wasn’t sure if there were any true Christians from the period immediately after the apostles to the period immediately before the Reformation. He said, “I take it on faith that there probably were, but I’m unsure if we can identify them,” or words to that effect. Here was a pastor, a teacher, and a scholar, who was not sure if there were any true Christians from 100 AD to 1517 AD. This is why I earnestly believe that Southern Baptists need to rediscover the doctrine of the church’s catholicity, by which I mean, the universal church in all its forms spread throughout the world, where God is worshipped as Trinity, where the word is proclaimed, the sacraments or ordinances are duly administered, the gospel is cherished, the Spirit works in people’s hearts, and Jesus is confessed as Lord. Check out the Center for Baptist Renewal which is a group of orthodox, evangelical Baptists committed to a retrieval of the Great Tradition for the renewal of Baptist faith and practice.

The Place of Women in SBC Life

As a former complementarian, I am conversant with complementarianism, both its soft and severer forms, and understand the biblical rationale that is often used to underpin it. That said, I believe egalitarianism is even more biblical, but that is another story. I have to tell you that as an Anglican, I routinely meet former SBC women who have turned to Anglicanism as a place of refuge after leaving what they describe to me as a mixture of sexism, patriarchy, discouragement, and even harassment in the SBC - cough, cough, Beth Moore! That said, I can also point you to many SBC women who tell me that they feel loved, appreciated, and encouraged in their churches and institutions, so it’s not all bad news!

Conclusion

I could give a lot more praise to my SBC baptist friends on the topics like the priesthood of all believers and their commitment to religious liberty. I could offer a few more critiques about the SBC’s unhealthy attachment to the GOP and how it has dealt with allegations of child sexual abuse.

But, I’ll finish by saying this: I believe there is power, power, wonder-working power in the goodness of Southern Baptist people, whether in the pulpit, on their knees in prayer, or reading the Bible in the Walmart lunchroom. I am a better Christian man because of my friendship with so many Southern Baptist friends, and I hope I have enriched their lives just a little of the way that they have enriched mine. It is my prayer on behalf of all Anglicans that at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb there will be some Southern Baptist grandmas with trays of fried chicken, biscuits, and sausage gravy. Amen!