In the current issue of SBC Life, former Southern Baptist Convention president Bobby Welch explained what he will be doing as the SBC's new “strategist for global evangelical relations.” According to Welch, his responsibilities will be “to establish enhanced international relationships with conservative evangelical Christians around the world, as well as here at home, for the purpose of growing, maintaining and nurturing conservative Baptist evangelical cooperation on a global scale in order to reach more lost souls with the gospel.”
Hmm. Basically, his job is to develop a method for Baptists around the world to network and assist one another in achieving the great commission. I thought we already had a means of doing this. It is called the Baptist World Alliance.
Apparently, this is a logical connection to make. So logical, in fact, that Welch tries to distance himself from it. He cites: “There is no attempt whatsoever to compete with or start any organization like the BWA. Internationally, the mission is to develop and execute a strategy for continuing to build cooperation and cultivate strong relationships with conservative evangelical Christians around the world as together we witness to the lost about the saving power of our Lord Jesus Christ. This initiative is not designed to be an alternative to, or compete with, the BWA.”
Jim White
So the new entity—whatever it is to be called—will not compete with the BWA. Apparently, then, Welch will not be urging Baptist groups who are currently members of the BWA to connect with the new organization? Right?
Not so fast! “At the time of the SBC's withdrawal in Indianapolis in June of 2004, it was emphasized that the withdrawal did not indicate a desire to separate from others but to ‘work directly with fellow Baptists around the world rather than through the BWA,'” Welch welshes.
Part of his job is to go directly to Baptist groups around the world trying to get them to become part of a new entity the SBC is starting for like-minded Christians. But this will not compete with the BWA. And all this is to bring lost souls to Christ.
Welch will be doing on a global scale exactly what others have done here in the U.S. He will be going to Baptists telling them that the group they are a part of is liberal. He will introduce suspicion among brothers and cause divisions among them.
If you like what has happened to the SBC on a national scale, you will love what Welch is up to globally.
Why not be honest enough to say, “Yes, we are setting up an organization which will mirror many of the same purposes of the BWA?” Obviously, it would not be good PR. Such an admission would expose an indifference to the welfare of brother Baptists around the world who will be devastated by what is about to happen. We are already beginning to see the consequences in Romania, where SBC influence has been at work. Romanian Baptists are experiencing conflict there between moderates and conservatives.
But I have another question. If Welch is successful in splitting Baptist groups around the world to start something with a more conservative emphasis, will it be worth it? Will the more narrowly defined theological position be worth splintering the fellowship and diluting the witness? Will it be worth inflicting and suffering the wounds that will result? Will it be worth the suspicions and lack of trust that inevitably develop? Will it be worth subjecting the global witness and message of Baptists to the scorn of a world community already irritated with religious fighting?
What about the words of Christ in his intimate prayer to the Father shortly before he was crucified: “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:20-23, NIV).
Do I believe Welch and the SBC leadership are attempting to create strife and bitterness that will result from their actions? No, I do not. I do not believe that they intend to do this. But I do believe that in their way of seeing things the end justifies the means. If disruption and dissension in the Baptist fellowship results, they are simply prices to be paid. Apparently Welch believes this will bring lost souls to Jesus.
But Jesus said the lost will come to believe in him through our love and unity. He said that we must be one “that the world may believe that you have sent me.” And then, as if to underscore the point, he emphasized the point again! “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
The point is not that we must believe exactly the same thing but that we love one another despite the fact that we do not. In fact, an SBC leader recently said it: “You don't have to see eye-to-eye to walk side-by-side.” It's about love, not about doctrinal uniformity. Again, quoting Jesus: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35, NIV).
Apparently Welch and others are willing to risk that Jesus was speaking metaphorically or hypothetically about love. What Jesus really wants is for everybody to believe exactly as they do.
I have never had any quarrel with Welch's emphasis on reaching the lost for Christ. But will the lost be brought to Christ through Baptist fighting and division? Welch's efforts will bring harm to the world-wide Baptist body of Christ. And that will be tragic not only for Baptists but for the lost souls we are trying to lead to Jesus.