In the Feb. 19 ABP story “Tolerance, not uniformity, needed to keep SBC together, leaders told,” please replace the 15th through 19th paragraphs with the following in order to correct a potential misunderstanding of Ed Stetzer's use of the term “ecumenical.”
Stetzer's comments came as he spoke bluntly to a sparse crowd Feb. 17, the final day of the conference. More than 300 people attended the Feb. 15 and 16 sessions. His address, “Toward a Missional Convention,” included several exhortations for Southern Baptist congregations to follow the lead of other denominations in becoming “missional.”
To be “missional,” Stetzer said, congregations must contextualize their message to the culture and cooperate with Southern Baptist churches that have methods and practices different from their own.
If Southern Baptists truly want to change the prevailing culture, they have to become culturally relevant once again, not just biblically faithful. “Our churches must be culturally relevant, biblical faithful, countercultural communities,” he explained.
“Preaching against culture is like preaching against someone's house. It's where someone lives,” he said. “We must pay attention to the culture if we are to be truly missional.”
While Stetzer's delivery and approach may have deviated from how the conference's more conservative speakers discussed the same issues, Stetzer's call for unity — and the need to address differences from within the SBC — echoed pleas voiced by several other speakers.
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