David Dockery, president of
Union University and member of the
GCR Task Force, wisely calls for a "both/and" vision for the Southern Baptist Convention in
his most recent article concerning the Task Force's final proposal.
In recent weeks I have heard Southern Baptists from various sectors of our Convention express some concern regarding the proposals to be recommended by the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force at the forthcoming gathering of the Southern Baptist Convention meeting this year in Orlando. As I have tried to listen to these concerns, I have noticed that several of them have been framed as “either/or” one-sided arguments. Historically, some of the church’s saddest moments have come when people have wrongly insisted on “either/or” answers. And, some of the church’s most significant breakthrough moments have come when “both/and” answers have shed light on a challenge.
And here is his conclusion:
I personally believe that the Great Commission Resurgence proposals can be used of God to help Southern Baptists thrive. To do so, we must remain convictionally connected to Scripture, to the Gospel, and to the best of our Southern Baptist heritage that has emphasized cooperation and partnership in missions and evangelism. Learning to work afresh in cooperative ways will also be important, with associations, state conventions, and the SBC no longer seeing themselves as rivals. It is time for us instead to refocus our convictional grounding while celebrating our commonalities with a kingdom-focused cooperative spirit and mindset.
I believe the GCR proposals can be used of God to launch a new “both/and” vision, which will include both preaching and praying, giving and going, worship and witness, conviction and cooperation, teaching truth and touching needs, defining boundaries and building bridges, all the while encouraging both sacrificial stewardship in the pews and the sending of missionaries to the nations. This vision must include the refocusing and the re-prioritizing of denominational structures combined with the renewing work of the Holy Spirit in and among us. All will be necessary to move the SBC forward in dynamic and constructive ways in coming years.
The GCR proposals point the SBC in a trajectory that, if adopted, will begin to move us forward toward shared service in extending the work of taking the gospel to unreached people groups in this country around the globe. One of the real dangers of this present hour is the possibility of becoming sidetracked by “either/or” thinking. The duties of this present hour call for us to recognize the amazing opportunities that are ours even in the very midst of complex local and global challenges. This unique moment pushes us toward a new and bold “both/and” vision, nothing less than a Great Commission Resurgence vision that calls for us to cooperate together in pushing back lostness, a vision grounded in the gospel itself, and a vision motivated by the words of the resurrected and exalted Christ who has commissioned us to “make disciples of all the nations.”
Read the whole article
here.
