Cecil Sherman Is Right!

by T. C. Pinckney                                                                                                               Vol. VI, No. 8, October 1993

Those readers who follow SBC affairs regularly will recognize Dr. Cecil Sherman as a long time leader among moderate Baptists and current executive director of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the breakaway denomination-in-all-but-name group unhappy with the return of the SBC to the full authority of the Bible. You may therefore view the headline of this article with some degree of surprise. Nevertheless, I believe that in the following quote, as printed in the 30 September 1993 issue of Baptists Today, he is indeed correct. Where we pick up his words he is writing of the Baptist decision making process.

"But what if there is an almost deadly fear of ‘telling the people?' What if there come preachers who give up on lay people: The preacher comes to think the lay people either ‘could not understand' this issue ... or, ‘if I told my people it might divide my church.'

"Then the Baptist system has been laid aside. The pastor has made a decision which is very priestly. He has decided what the people will be allowed to know.

"If the pastor is really honest, at this point he will go and change the name on the sign in front of the church. It is no longer functioning like a Baptist church.

"The pastor is no longer a pastor; he is a bishop. He no longer trusts the people. He is keeping from them information they have a right to know."

We should acknowledge that pastors with strong elements of both moderate/liberal and conservative points of view within their churches do face pressures to keep silent, to avoid making waves. After all, pastors are human too, and apt to be particularly sensitive men. Not only is the church the source of income for themselves and their families, in almost every case they will have a deep concern both for all their church members (both moderate and conservative) and for the unity and ministry of the church. They quite properly agonize over the very real personal and corporate costs that may well result from forthrightly facing and discussing these issues.

What is often less appreciated is the very real and inescapable personal and corporate costs of not dealing with issues. Sherman is right on target because the democratic Baptist system cannot work properly if all the priests (lay as well as clergy) are not informed. There needs to be an informed, conscious unity of spirit and perspective if a church is to grow and prosper in its ministry for the Lord. "How can two walk together unless they be agreed." If we honor God, He has promised to meet all our needs. Isn't His promise good enough for us?

But we must be very clear: We are not suggesting enforced uniformity, but rather an informed, voluntary agreement. True heart unity does not spring from ignorance, from being kept in the dark, but rather from a prayerful and serious consideration of the facts measured carefully in the light of Scripture (Oh, noble Bereans).

The clear implication of Dr. Sherman's piece is that it is conservative pastors who keep their people in the dark. And in fact I am sure some, possibly many, do. But his article reminded me of a meeting my pastor and I attended in April 1986 at which the moderate president of an SBC seminary spoke rather informally. During the question and answer period one of the young pastors there said, "Dr. ..., many of us are afraid to tell our congregations what we really believe." The speaker merely nodded his head in agreement. The young pastor followed by asking, "What do you think we should do in such a case?" The seminary president responded with, "Just tell them what they want to hear and bring them along as fast as you can."

My purpose is not to point a finger at moderates. Instead I am trying to establish that fear is not confined to one theological side of the spectrum or the other. And that to allow human fear to overwhelm our trust in Jesus is at least equally culpable in inerrantists as in moderates. Finally, that whatever the pastor's stance on events within the SBC, he betrays his trust if he keeps his people in the dark.

I profoundly believe that if Southern Baptist laymen are well informed on issues, the great majority of them will make scripturally based, Christ-honoring decisions. Furthermore, if the pastor himself is theologically sound, his ministry will only be strengthened and the church invigorated by courageous leadership.