ATLANTA (ABP) — Moderator Emmanuel McCall welcomed national leaders of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship to Atlanta Oct. 12 by urging them to “be the presence of Christ” on a new level — to other Christians.
McCall, retired pastor of Christian Fellowship Baptist Church in Atlanta, told the Coordinating Council that although not all Baptists do the same things the same way, Christians must learn to extend themselves to one another for the sake of non-believers.
“We are one in the body of Christ,” he said. “There is no room for us to brag about who we are or what we are or what we have achieved. We are all sinners saved by grace who are moving toward what we hope we can be in Jesus Christ.”
To that end, McCall was quick to disparage blogs that “air the dirty linen of the church” to people looking for love and truth in the world. Baptists “need to silence the volume,” he said, and instead use Jesus' example of conflict resolution, which was outlined in the book of Matthew.
“Can you begin to grasp the tragedy of airing that kind of confusion to a world that is looking for hope and expecting that we people who call ourselves believers in Christ have at least some knowledge, some edge, that they can turn to…,” he said. “And yet what they get from us is putrid hatefulness in the name of God. What a travesty.”
Following McCall's exhortation, Rob Nash, CBF global missions coordinator, told council members that when it comes to telling other people about Jesus, “times have changed.”
Reality in missions isn't what it used to be, he said. Local churches that send members on international mission trips have replaced the old model of “missionary road shows.” Now, he added, congregations have engaged the world alongside career missionaries, and they are doing more together than they used to do separately.
“Reality is not a slide show anymore,” Nash said. “Reality is engagement in global missions, together, for the kingdom of God.”
Daniel Vestal, who is the coordinator of CBF, followed Nash's point with much of the same sentiment. When questioned by a council member about what areas of need he sees within the organization, he said he wished the Fellowship could commission more missionaries.
“Always you have more needs as you try to provide more ministries,” he said. “I guess if I had to really say where I wish we had more paid folks, it would be missionaries. I have no question that if we had the resources, we could appoint another 40 or 50 missionaries pretty quickly.”
When it comes to funding those workers, Vestal said, he is concerned about giving levels. CBF was a million dollars short of its goal with the global missions offering last year, he said. Churches are spending money on domestic issues like hurricane relief and missions “in their own context.” Ultimately, the only vision big enough to compel more giving among Baptist Christians will be a global vision, Vestal said.
“I believe the money is out there,” he said. “We've got to do a better job of telling our story. Churches that care about this fellowship and care about the mission enterprise of this fellowship have simply got to step up. And it's time for them to step up.”
Vestal will begin a three-month sabbatical Oct. 14.
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