Baptist21 members Jon Akin and Nick Moore were privileged to take part in a panel discussion about Southern Baptists and the Great Commission Resurgence. The panel also included Dr. Russell Moore (Vice President for Academic Administration and Dean of the School of Theology) and Dr. Chuck Lawless (Dean of the Billy Graham School) of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. GCR Task Force member and President of Southern Seminary, Dr. Albert Mohler moderated the GCR panel. (The Video is Below, along with the Mp3 Download)
New “B21 Forums” Page: In addition, Baptist21 would love to hear some of your thoughts about the GCR and the future of the Southern Baptist Convention. So we have set up a “b21 Forums” Page. The first forums we have posted deal with the Great Commission Resurgence. Specifically, baptist21 would like to hear your thoughts on the direction the GCR Task Force should take the convention theologically and structurally. Please, if you interact on the forum, do so in a way that is edifying and consistent with who we are In Christ. SO HEAD TO THE FORUMS AND JOIN THE CONVERSATION
SBTS and B21 Panel on the GCR
Additional Resources:
- Download the MP3 here
- Southern Seminary’s News Service, the “Towers” blogged the panel
- Remember to check out other b21 audio/video resources
Comments 0
Great discussion. Shocked and happy to hear Dr. Moore’s bluntness about NAMB toward the end of the discussion. My greatest fear is that the GCR will end up not making big enough changes that will actually make a difference. Hearing Dr. Moore tells me the right conversations are being had.
Thought this discussion was very, very helpful. Great job by all. I wonder if there are any topics that any of y’all think weren’t covered in this that should’ve been. Thoughts?
I agree with Paul Cooper’s comment. However, my concern is whether or not we are wanting to genuinely reach the “inner” city and not just urban areas. We must ask ourselves whether our existing church planting formulas which require a church to be self-sustaining within two to three years, needs to be revisited. The present parameter silently demands that plants be in affluent neighborhoods which,in Baltimore, are primarily white. In the inner city, Baltimore is majority African American and live at or below the poverty level. Often church plants are started within the area of an existing church, the justification being that the statistics demonstrate the better practice is to resource new church plants over strengthening existing churches. While there are those who are revisiting these statistics, it would appear to this contributor that, as our current efforts continue and GCR goes forward, when it comes to the “inner city”, there has been little thought given to (1) economic segregation, (2) urban racism, (3) church life cycles, (4)the “Job’s Three Friend’s Attitude”, (5) the “cavalry is coming syndrome” and (6) a failure to consider the “Hidden Rules” among classes of people while we focus on numbers rather than impact, immediacy rather than the long term and the abandonment of older inner city churches. There is an emerging anger among “old” Baptists in inner city churches who feel abandoned. This emerging anger can be paralleled with the 1845 experience in the old Triennial Convention which can be summed up, “We dont want you but we want your resources”. Isnt it time that we considered a church “growth” strategy involving strengthening and planting? or is that too much?