CBF does not spell SBC

The recent gathering of the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis marked the 25th anniversary of what has been called the “conservative resurgence.” One of the architects of the resurgence wrote: “Conservatives worked together because we believed that the restoration of the Southern Baptist Convention to a position of standing upon the complete trustworthiness of God’s Word was a hill on which to die.”

The Convention adopted a revised Baptist Faith and Message in Orlando in 2000. The preamble of the document reads: “In an age increasingly hostile to Christian truth, our challenge is to express the truth as revealed in Scripture, and to bear witness to Jesus Christ, who is ‘the Way, the Truth, and the Life.’”

It is apparent to the most casual observer that the SBC has embraced a conservative philosophy by claiming an adherence to the infallibility of Scripture, insisting upon the exclusivity of the gospel and taking a hard line on moral and ethical issues. In a world where tolerance is hailed as the litmus test of virtue and inclusiveness is politically correct it is not surprising that the SBC brand of conservatism is ridiculed by some and condemned by others.

A rather small group of Southern Baptists who didn’t like the new direction or who began to feel disenfranchised by the Convention’s intentional shift to the right decided to form what is now called the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF). Their leadership refers to the CBF as “a denomination-like association” which, indeed, is organized similarly to the SBC, but which, in fact, is different from the SBC.

Note the similarities:

• The Southern Baptist Convention has a chief executive officer and president of the Executive Committee (Morris Chapman) whereas the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has a coordinator for its Coordinating Council (Daniel Vestal). The SBC has an annual convention; the CBF has a general assembly.

• The SBC just elected its own president (Bobby Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach, Fla.); the CBF just elected its own moderator (Bob Setzer Jr., Pastor, First Baptist Church, Macon).

• The SBC has The Baptist Faith and Message; the CBF has its core values.

• Both the SBC and CBF have their own budgets, missionary endeavors and ministries.

Note the differences:

• While the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has established itself through working within existing Southern Baptist Churches to shift allegiance and siphon mission dollars away from the SBC and the Cooperative Program to the CBF and its missions programs, the Southern Baptist Convention’s primary strategy for growth is to plant new churches. Through the CBF’s plan confusion, misunderstanding and strife have sometimes been created in the local church. The SBC strategy, on the other hand, calls for 2,500 new church starts in North American, one million baptisms and 5,500 International Board missionaries on the field in 2005.

• While the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has recently become a part of the Baptist World Alliance, the Southern Baptist Convention has withdrawn membership from the BWA.

• At its most recent General Assembly the CBF also voted to ratify their involvement in Christian Churches Together in the USA (CCT), a new ecumenical group involving five religious groups: mainline Protestants, Roman Catholics, Evangelicals, Pentecostals and Orthodox. Sonja Phillips, co-pastor of Central Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Florida and a member of the committee that discussed the proposal to join the group, stated that CCT offers “a new space inclusive of diverse families of faith in the United States.”

Greg Tomlin, news director at Southwestern Seminary, has said, “(The CBF) purposefully avoid(s) defining (itself) in order to be as inclusive as possible and make a home for a hodgepodge of theological viewpoints, some of them simply heretical in relationship to classical Christianity.”

While being inclusive and tolerant of others may provide a warm, fuzzy feeling and accomplish some good along the way, and while drawing lines of demarcation and standing against the current of tolerance in a pluralistic society may draw the scowls of many, it is the opinion of this editor that it is time for the church of Jesus Christ to boldly and bravely stand for truth and righteousness.

The SBC is not without its faults, but I am convinced that at the heart of our seminaries there is a firm commitment to give those whom God has called to ministry a Bible that is completely reliable, a knowledge of the truth, a plan for ministry and a passion for souls. Our mission’s agencies are aflame with a desire to reach the nations for Jesus Christ. Our Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is effectively calling Southern Baptists and Americans to be responsible Christian citizens and to remember that only “righteousness exalts a nation.”

No, the CBF is not spelled SBC.