I am a generational Southern Baptist. My grandfather was a Southern Baptist preacher in a rural community my father was a chaplain for NAMB. My mom served in several SBC churches as I was growing up and still does now. I even was awarded a scholarship to a state camp when i wrote an essay on the Cooperative Program. As I have grown older, however, I have fallen more in love with the theology of the SBC and out of love with the organization of it. There are great aspects to it don’t get me wrong and I don’t understand nor am I involved nearly enough to be a true critic of it but I feel the same way about it as I do about the US government. It is big complicated and wasteful in many areas. again this is purely from an outsiders perspective but I have seen how some things work and realize that a lot of time, energy and money go into pointless meetings and discussions and administrative red tape rather than real ministry.
I write this today because of the recent announcement and ensuing controversy that the was caused when SBC president Bryant Wright commissioned a task force to research a possible name change. And another blog post from SBCVoices .com found here about doing away with state conventions.
The point is not to scrap things altogether but I find it interesting that the outcry is so loud against just the exploration of ways to make things simpler and more effective. Simpler and more effective means more people reached with greater ease. I see churches giving loads of money away in their budget to programs that are meant to spread the gospel but are really just propping up a growing corporation that is getting fatter and fatter in a world that is growing further and further from God.
I don’t want to deny the SBC does some great things just want to suggest that there is always room for improvement and there is always fat that can be cut.
passionburnswithin.com 