Rick Warren announced a couple of weeks ago that he will appeal the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee’s decision to disfellowship Saddleback Church.
In the past few days, Warren has grabbed a bullhorn and “taken to the streets,” so to speak. He released a series of videos and a website, SBC Stand, which detail the reasons for his argument against the SBC Executive Committee’s decision. Further, he published an open letter to Southern Baptists.
In the open letter, Warren cites deep concerns for the convention including 17 years of decline, the movement from a “consensus of opinion” approach found in a confession to creedalistic demands that every Baptist agree on every interpretation. He argues that upholding the current ruling of the Executive Committee will fundamentally destroy four historic Southern Baptist distinctives including the autonomy of the local church.
Meredith Stone
In the first video in the “SBC at the Crossroads” series, titled “Denial or Revival?,” he says Southern Baptists are becoming less Baptist every year, more Presbyterian in structure and more fundamentalist in actions and attitudes.
He also is adamant that while some have made women in ministry once again the focal the issue of the SBC annual meeting in New Orleans, the true focus should be that the SBC lost half a million members in 2022, which is the largest annual loss in 100 years. Ironically, he also notes the number of SBC members has declined to the point that it has now returned to its size in 1979.
His message is this: The SBC is floundering and needs revitalization. He implores all Southern Baptists to show up in New Orleans and vote no to upholding the Executive Committee’s decision to disfellowship Saddleback.
Even though I was not present during all the fight against the fundamentalist takeover of the SBC that occurred from 1979 through the 1990s, Warren’s argument sounds very familiar. That generation of dissenters also appealed to local church autonomy, being confessional instead of creedal, and said the future of the SBC was at stake.
“What should Baptists who long ago left the fight against fundamentalism make of Warren’s discovery of these same arguments?”
So what should Baptists who long ago left the fight against fundamentalism make of Warren’s discovery of these same arguments?
I will admit I do not agree with everything Warren says in the video. He claims he is neither a complementarian nor an egalitarian. He holds high Adrian Rogers, Jimmy Draper and W.A. Criswell as great Baptist statesmen.
I can see how some who fought and sacrificed much for this fight years ago might be resentful that their argument has been taken up by someone who still praises the names of men who led the SBC down this path.
But I also want to celebrate that the fight against fundamentalism has found a very loud and influential voice. Fundamentalism endangers lives and, therefore, needs strong opponents. Every smack fundamentalism takes is positive movement.
If Warren’s appeal of the disfellowshiping of Saddleback Church does win the vote, there is a chance that no further motions or recommendations will be made or pass to dictate how women can serve and what titles they can have.
The success of his appeal would benefit churches and women who still desire to be in the SBC but would be affected by more severe restrictions on the way women minister, lead and serve as pastors in Southern Baptist congregations.
Warren’s amplification of his message may bring more messengers to the convention, and once again, like the 1980s, women in ministry is the motivating topic on the table. What should it communicate to Southern Baptists that women’s value and leadership continues to arise in the SBC?
I hope it communicates that women, just like the Spirit of God within us, cannot be silenced. If the leadership of women truly was an open and shut case of biblical interpretation, this would have been over long ago.
“I hope it communicates that women, just like the Spirit of God within us, cannot be silenced.”
There’s something about the freedom people find in Christ that makes them want to find freedom in life.
If I had membership in a Southern Baptist church, I believe I would go to the convention to vote on behalf of the women and other marginalized people who are endangered by fundamentalism. Not because I believe the SBC can be a place where my Baptist expression finds a home, but because people are worth showing up for.
But I wouldn’t go just for Saddleback’s appeal. I also would be there to cast my vote, speak on behalf of and be in solidarity with Fern Creek Baptist Church. I sincerely desire that Warren will also speak on behalf of them and their pastor, Linda Popham, who likely would experience a higher personal cost in losing the appeal than Warren would if Saddleback’s appeal fails.
I’ve changed my mind at least five times in the past week as to how I predict this convention will play out. But whatever happens, I pray all Baptist siblings find a way to view each other as worthy of the freedom Jesus offers.
Meredith Stone serves as executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry.
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