The recommendation is final. And the "Breaking News" coming out of the Southern Baptist Camp is that there will be a big change...sort of...well...not really. Several blogs ago I told you about the possible name change for the SBC. Here's the results:
The task force assigned to look into a possible name change of the Southern Baptist Convention reported Monday and recommended to maintain its legal name but adopt an informal, non-legal name for those who want to use it: "Great Commission Baptist."
According to Baptist Press, the task force decided that "...the potential benefits of a legal name change do not outweigh the potential risks that would be involved in a legal name change." Citing Jimmy Draper, "Changing the name of the convention would require a great cost in dollars and in energy, and would present huge challenges legally that create a multitude of issues. The value of a name change does not justify the risks involved."
Basically, the task force believes that keeping the legal name and using a non-legal, informal name is a win-win situation. What does this mean for the convention? None of us are really sure. The Southern Baptist Convention isn't until June and the messengers will have an opportunity to affirm the recommendation or start all over. The idea behind a name change is that the use of the word "Southern" can be offensive. So what really changed? I guess we will all have to wait.
In the mean time, should the SBC go with the recommendation, churches can voluntarily use the name "Great Commission Baptist" instead of the offensive "Southern" when referring to their church.
You want to hear my thoughts behind all of this?
> Tagging a church as a "Great Commission Baptist" church doesn't make them any more great commission than putting a hunk of steel in a garage and tagging it "vehicle" means you can drive it around.
> Has anyone asked the question whether or not "Baptist" is offensive? I mean, it seems to me that if being Southern can be offensive then being Baptist can be just as offensive.
> What about the potential risks of having this huge convention of churches divided between "Great Commission Baptist" and "Southern Baptist"? Does anyone else not see this coming? "Well...we are the great commission churches..." or "Well...you aren't really Southern Baptist..." If churches can fight about the color of carpet then surely we can start a good argument over how we are identified. Oh...wait a minute, we already do that.
My curiosity over this whole things isn't satisfied. I'm very interested in hearing how all of this plays out. What will Pioneer Baptist Church do with this? We will continue being a Great Commission Church by going into the mission field and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. We will continue to love God, love others, and serve both. We have never allowed the name on our church sign to be what identifies or categorizes us.
Maybe one of these days, preferably before Jesus returns, all churches will let go of denominational identifiers and be known a the church. Imagine a church without tags, without divisive denominations, and without disunity. Imagine all churches working together to see the Kingdom of God expanded across the earth. Imagine each of us working arm in arm to reach the lost with the gospel. That is the day that I look forward to.
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