Strange, or Not So Strange

by Robert C Wilson                                                                                             Vol. IV, No. 4, May 1991

Pastor, Evergreen Baptist Church

I was disappointed to read a while back in the Religious Herald about an SBC church in Louisiana dually aligning with the American Baptist Convention (formerly the Northern Baptists). Such dual alignment has already been seen in Virginia, and how strange it is. Or is it?

How can some Southern Baptists, long known as "people of the Book," feel so comfortable in a denomination whose theology and missions efforts are, in my observation, fuzzy at best? Could it be that these "loyal" Southern Baptists' true identity is revealed when they so readily align with such a denomination?

As a 42-year-old Southern Baptist conservative pastor of a church that gives 21% to the Cooperative Program, I question this type organizational tie. In one western state where I served as pastor, an American Baptist church prided itself on having "members" from 14 different denominations. This church did ask allegiance to Jesus as Savior, but did not baptize anyone unless the individual requested it. When I asked the pastor of that church whether he didn't feel he had compromised on baptism, he said he did not feel it was a compromise. Additionally, he did not have Sunday evening services because "only about a dozen would come."

In another state where I pastored, American Baptists were the second largest denomination in the state with some 750 churches. Yet, in ten years American Baptists had not started even one mission! But this state had counties in which 62% to 80% of the people were unchurched. I received this information from the man who at that time pastored the largest Baptist church in the state. His church had been affiliated only with the ABC, but he had led his congregation to align with the SBC! Why? Because he was tired of the lack of mission-mindedness and evangelism among American Baptists in his state.

Strangely it appears that the Southern Baptists who associate so easily with the American Baptists are the same ones who keep emphasizing that Southern Baptists have come together not on a theological basis, but" to "do" missions. It does seem strange.

There is warmth, vitality, and spirituality in many ABC churches, yet I believe the overall conditions and atmosphere in the ABC are far from the biblical foundations and emphases of the SBC. To openly identify with such a perspective, I believe, is to admit frankly acceptance of less than a true biblical spirit and less than an energetic emphasis on evangelism and worldwide missions.

Dual alignment? Yes, it is strange. Or is it?