Blueprint for a New Century
by T. C. Pinckney Vol. VIII, No. 3, March 1995
Excitement was in the air Monday evening, 20 February, at the auditorium of the Baptist Building in Nashville where the SBC Executive Committee gathered for a plenary session. The Program and Structure Committee was to bring its long awaited report. That committee was formed in the fall of 1993 as a result of a motion made at the June 1993 SBC meeting in Houston. California's Executive Director, C. B. Hogue, since retired, asked that the SBC president appoint a seven-member committee with three from the Executive Committee, three from the convention at large, and a chairman from either group. Hogue's purpose was that the committee was to "study the program statements of SBC agencies and institutions, and evaluate existing structures which are required to effectively implement such programs."
The Executive Committee [EC] appointed the study committee with the purpose as proposed by Hogue. Members included four EC members and three members from the convention at large, including the chairman. The chairman is Dr. Mark Brister, pastor, Broadmoor BC, Shreveport, TX. Others members: Dr. Ronnie Floyd, pastor FBC, Springdale, AR; Dr. Bill Hall, financial strategist, San Clemente, CA; Dr. W. Gregory Horton, founding partner Quincy's and Ryan's Family Steakhouse chains, SC; Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY; R. L. Sorrell, associate pastor, Bellevue BC, Memphis, TN; and Dr. Rex M. Terry, attorney, Fort Smith, AR.
In overview, the committee recommends that structurally the current 19 SBC boards, commissions, and committees be reduced to 12 with some functions eliminated and others becoming part of existing or revised structures. Perhaps even more significant, there is a changed approach to the purpose of SBC organizations.
When the SBC was established in 1845, the new Convention stated its purpose as "eliciting, combining, and directing the energies of the Baptist denomination of Christians, for the propagation of the gospel." In its report the Study Committee states, "The Convention is most fundamentally a fellowship of churches, not a bureaucratic organization. The Lord Jesus Christ commanded His church to go and make disciples. That commission, `Go Ye,' is the Lord's instruction to the church for which He died. In obedience to that commission, and in keeping with Baptist polity, we believe that the mission of the Southern Baptist Convention is as expressed in this statement:
"The Southern Baptist Convention exists to facilitate, extend, and enlarge the Great Commission ministries of Southern Baptist churches, under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, upon the authority of Holy Scripture, and by the empowerment o f the Holy Spirit."
Further along in its report the Committee writes, "Our concern is that the Convention keep its primary focus on its founding vision – and on our shared mission. Every question, no matter how difficult; every issue, no matter how complex, must be measured by this standard: How can Southern Baptists accomplish our mission to the greatest level of faithfulness and the highest standard of stewardship? ... This is the time for Southern Baptists to act – to address these issues with the confidence that Christ has called us to an ever expanding mission. In so doing we face one of the striking paradoxes of our age: In an era of expanding missions we are convinced that we need a streamlined structure.
"We believe that our focus should no longer be on program assignments, but on ministry assignments. By such an assignment, the Convention directs its agencies to serve the mission of its churches through focused ministry responsibilities. The goal is the fulfillment of ministry – not the accomplishment of mere programs... The structures should emerge out of the mission – never should the mission be conformed to the structures."
Now let's review the changes proposed by the Committee.
1. Foreign Mission Board: Renamed the International Mission Board. The word "foreign" has negative connotations and sometimes causes problems for our missionaries. Moreover, for some years there has been a movement toward evangelizing people groups rather than focussing on political units. The IMB would maintain its historic focus on missions outside North America.
2. Home Mission Board: Renamed the North American Mission Board and assigned primary responsibility for evangelistic witness in the United States and Canada. Thus responsibility for Canada will move from the FMB to the new NAMB because both nations share the same language, are adjacent to each other, and share the same culture. The NAMB will contain three major divisions: North American Evangelization (the current HMB with Canada added), Mission Technologies and Communications (the current Radio and Television Commission), and Mission Volunteers and Education (the current Brotherhood Commission). The trustees of the new NAMB will elect a president who will lead the total board. Each of the three divisions will be led by a vice president. Current trustees of the three existing agencies will serve out their full terms, but as they complete their tenures, the number of trustees will be reduced to 75 from the present total of 148.
3. Great Commission Council: This is NOT another agency but rather a 14 member council composed of the IMB and NAMB presidents, three vice presidents from each board, the chairmen of each trustee board, and two other trustees from each board chosen by the chairmen. The Council will meet regularly to consider mission strategies and the deployment of resources.
4. Sunday School Board: "The primary focus of the Sunday School Board should be on assisting and enriching Southern Baptist Churches as they minister in the name of Jesus Christ. ... The goal should be to provide a complete and balanced program of assistance for local churches as those congregations develop their own ministries. The SSB will continue in its established ministry assignments, but it is also charged with new assignments, including ministries to men and women, stewardship education, and capital fund raising." (Here it is important to distinguish between certain responsibilities of the NAMB and the SSB. The SSB will assist established churches to develop their ministries. The NAMB will be responsible for assisting in planting new churches.)
5. Theological Education: The ministry assignments of our six seminaries will not change, and the only structural recommendation is really recognition of an existing practice. Recommended is a Council of Seminary Presidents to meet regularly and coordinate theological education.
6. Denominational History: The Committee proposes that the Historical Commission be disestablished, its library and archives to remain in Nashville overseen by the Council of Seminary Presidents.
7. Education Commission: "We recommend that the Education Commission be dissolved, and its programs be discontinued or transferred to the Association of Southern Baptist Colleges and Schools, should that body determine to ... assume these programs."
8. Christian Life Commission: Renamed the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission" thus clarifying its ministry. No structural change.
9. Executive Committee: Two entities, the Executive Committee and the Annuity Board, do not have direct ministry assignments but instead exist to facilitate the work of the churches and the Convention. The Committee recommends that the EC be assigned those responsibilities previously held by the Southern Baptist Foundation: estate planning consultation and investment management. Another transfer to the EC would be the Cooperative Program promotion assignment currently held by the Stewardship Commission.
10. Annuity Board: "We recommend that he AB ... be assigned its current programs of retirement annuities for churches and other denominational entities, insurance services, and ministers relief. We also recommend that the AB's programs be limited to (1) church employees qualified by state conventions, (2) employees of qualified Baptist associations, (3) employees of state conventions and their subsidiaries, and (4) employees of the entities of the Southern Baptist Convention and their subsidiaries."
Readers will note that there is no mention above of the WMU. That is because the WMU is an auxiliary, not an agency responsible to the SBC. All SBC agencies are overseen by boards of trustees elected by the SBC at its June meetings. But there is no such accountability with the WMU. Thus the Committee recommended that the two mission boards "assume primary responsibility for promoting their own mission offerings..." How the two boards would do so and whether they would choose to continue to work through the WMU was not addressed and, indeed, was not a proper area of concern for the Structure Committee.
Implementation Schedule: The EC endorsed the report 64:3 in February. The report will come to the SBC this June in Atlanta. If approved then, the EC will develop a Transition Plan and will bring that Plan to the June 1996 SBC. There will be annual reports on progress, and full implementation is to be accomplished by the adjournment of the SBC in June 2000. Trustees of entities to be dissolved will continue in office until the dissolution or reorganization of the entity is completed.
Conclusion: This is not a denominational political issue. There seems to be widespread recognition that SBC structure had become too complex, too disparate, too bureaucratic. The reorganization will save significant resources which can be turned to direct use in accomplishing the Lord's work rather than being consumed in overhead expense. As one example, by my count the changes will eliminate 165 trustee positions. And I'm told that it costs approximately $2,000 per year per trustee to defray the cost of travel, lodging, and food. That means some $330,000 annually saved for better uses. In addition, there should be fewer employees, fewer offices, fewer buildings ... all of which mean better stewardship. Beyond the financial savings, though impossible to quantify, there will be improved efficiency and cleared ministry responsibilities. This is truly an exciting time to be a Southern Baptist as our great Convention positions itself for the challenges of the 21st century.
[Note: The factual data and quotations above are from the March 1995 SBC Life.]