The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Virginia’s future will be invigorated with the help of 10 initiatives, said the group’s new field coordinator during the CBFV General Assembly March 13-14.
“This is a sketch of what we could look like in 10 years,” said Rob Fox, who assumed his position Feb. 1 as part of a partnership between the CBFV and the national Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. “I’ve been listening for the past several years to pastors, professors and laity who are a part of the CBF of Virginia. This is the top 10 of what I’ve been hearing. These are initiatives that will guide our process as we move forward.”
Fox
Rob Fox leads a workshop at the CBFV General Assembly.
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, who also is pastor of Mount Hermon Baptist Church in Milford, discussed the initiatives during sessions of the General Assembly, held on the campus of Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, and in two workshops. The initiatives recommend:
Becoming younger. Though an earlier generation discovered the CBF through separation from the Southern Baptist Convention, this generation is “coming through another doorway — through their seminary experience,” said Fox. “When they graduate from seminary and step into Virginia as ministers, they’re asking, ‘Where is the CBF? This is my family.’ These younger people want the CBF. We want to embody this movement for them in Virginia.”
Increasing diversity. The CBFV is a movement with a Kingdom vision, said Fox, but the organization still has little ethnic diversity. “That’s not a good thing for the future. We need to look like the culture.”
Becoming greener. Christians have a kingdom mandate to exercise good stewardship of creation, said Fox. “This issue [environmentalism] is so relevant to so many people who would never set foot inside a church.”
Promoting women pastors. “We do a good job of distributing resumes of women for pastoral positions, but we still have a challenge in seeing them fill pastoral positions,” said Fox. “I’d like to see the CBFV family say they will promote women pastors.”
Supporting BTSR. The Baptist seminary is “a kind of gym for us,” said Fox, noting many of its graduates eventually serve in Virginia Baptist life. “We want to formalize our relationship more,” he said, adding that the seminary now provides office space for CBFV.
Embracing technology. “We could do a great job of servicing Baptists if we did this more often,” Fox said. “Let’s be the Baptists who embrace technology.”
Encouraging intergenerational involvement in mission. The CBFV has been hosting and planning mission events for young people, but greater attention needs to be paid to mixing up the age groups, said Fox.
Connecting big and small churches. “Most of our churches are below 100 in membership,” said Fox, whose own church falls into that category. “But River Road [Church, Baptist, in Richmond] is large. There is unity here despite sizes.”
Fostering leadership in congregations. “BTSR has a built-in program in its School of Christian Ministry for doing continuing education,” said Fox.
Voicing the progressive and prophetic. “We shouldn’t be afraid to find and use our prophetic voice,” said Fox. “As a movement we have lots of ways to change the world, but we’re often quiet.”
These 10 initiatives will be “seeds that cause our fields to green, to blossom and to produce a new harvest,” Fox said in an address to the General Assembly. “We won’t do this work alone. No, we will partner with like-minded Baptists and Christians who share our vision, who share our mission and who share our values — because this is the Kingdom work that Jesus calls us to. … It will take each of us — each of our churches — and quite honestly, more than simply us to get this done.”
In
New CBFV officers are (from left) Bert Browning, moderator-elect; Rob Fox, coordinator; and Natalie Kline, moderator. Jack Mercer is immediate past moderator.
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other action, the CBFV elected as moderator Natalie Kline, associate pastor with families and children at First Baptist Church in Waynesboro.
“I am very excited about what is ahead for us as a CBF Virginia family,” said Kline, “even with the rough places that we will surely encounter, for there is still much to be learned and still ways in which we can grow.”
Also elected were Bert Browning, pastor of Huguenot Road Baptist Church in Richmond, as moderator-elect; Bland Campbell, pastor of Hull’s Memorial Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, as secretary; and Dennis Sacrey, church administrator at Fredericksburg Baptist Church in Fredericksburg.
Justin Joplin, pastor of Westover Baptist Church in Richmond, was elected as a Virginia representative on the national CBF coordinating council.
The General Assembly also adopted a 2009-2010 budget of $150,850.