ATLANTA (ABP) — Leaders of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship may add a preamble to the organization's constitution, restoring explicit references to Jesus Christ and the Great Commission deleted in July.
The proposed preamble, approved by the CBF Coordinating Council's legal committee and advisory council, will be presented to the full council at its Oct. 13-14 meeting in Atlanta.
Leaders hope the move will quiet critics both within the Fellowship and beyond who complained when references to Jesus were deleted from the earlier document.
The recommended preamble states: “As a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches, we celebrate our faith in the One Triune God. We gladly declare our allegiance to Jesus Christ as Lord and to His gospel as we seek to be the continuing presence of Christ in this world. Our passion is to obey the Great Commandment (Matt 22: 34-40) and the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20) of our Lord in the power of the Holy Spirit, and to uphold Baptist principles of faith and practice as we partner with one another and other Christians.”
At its June 30-July 1 general assembly in Grapevine, Texas, the Fellowship voted to approve revisions to its governing documents, but not before several participants objected that the revised constitution and bylaws omitted explicit references to Jesus and his Great Commission — the command to share the gospel and make disciples.
The approved constitution says the Fellowship's purpose is “to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission. The Fellowship shall fulfill its purpose in keeping with its commitments to the historic Baptist principles of soul freedom, Bible freedom, church freedom, and religious freedom; to biblically based global missions; to a resource model for serving churches; to justice and reconciliation; to lifelong learning and ministry; to trustworthiness; and to effectiveness.”
Previously, the purpose statement mentioned bringing together Baptists and calling out God's gifts in individuals “in order that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be spread throughout the world in glad obedience to the Great Commission.”
The general assembly defeated two motions to send the purpose statement back to the Coordinating Council so members could consider restoring references to Christ and the Great Commission after CBF leaders insisted those commitments were implied.
Almost immediately after the vote, some Southern Baptist Convention leaders criticized the action. They pointed out many moderate Baptists previously had critiqued the SBC for removing a reference in the 2000 “Baptist Faith and Message” to Jesus Christ as the criterion for biblical interpretation. They also cited it as evidence of alleged liberalism and lack of commitment to evangelism within the CBF.
Ironically, the SBC's constitution does not mention Jesus either.
Jack Glasgow, pastor of Zebulon (N.C.) Baptist Church in Zebulon, and a member of the Coordinating Council, contacted CBF moderator Joy Yee to recommend a preamble that declared the Fellowship's theological and biblical reason for being.
Neither Yee, Glasgow or CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal was available for comment before press time.
“This sounds like a stronger statement than either the Southern Baptist Convention or the CBF has ever had in its constitution,” said Greg McGruder, pastor of Parkview Baptist Church in Gainesville, Fla., whose church members disapproved of the July revisions. “I would endorse it.”
After the CBF General Assembly, news stories circulated quoting SBC officials who criticized the Fellowship for failing to include language explicitly mentioning Jesus and the Great Commission in its governing documents. Several members of McGruder's church expressed concern over the reports, which appeared both in the Florida Baptist Witness and the local Gainesville newspaper.
McGruder responded with a guest commentary published in the Florida Baptist newspaper. He noted the SBC had no language in its charter or constitution comparable to what some leaders were demanding of the CBF, and he urged Southern Baptist leaders to refrain from comments that create disharmony in local churches.
“It should help immensely to have language like this” in the CBF constitution's preamble, he told Associated Baptist Oct. 5.
Jay Robison, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky., said a preamble that declares “our allegiance to Jesus Christ as Lord and to His gospel” is “much closer” to CBF's previous purpose statement. “Certainly this is much better than what they had,” said Robison, who was among CBF participants who expressed concern about the omission last summer.
During the general assembly, Robison proposed that the revised constitution and bylaws be sent back to committee. Although his proposal failed, CBF leaders later agreed to revisit the issue.
Noting that the former statement cited “glad obedience to the Great Commission,” Robison said, “I really liked what they had before.” He said the phrase “in glad obedience” emphasized that sharing the gospel is “not a sense of drudgery.”
After Robison's motion failed during the general assembly, Bob DeFoor, pastor of Harrodsburg (Ky.) Baptist Church, proposed referring only the article about the orgainzation's purpose back to committee. That motion also failed.
But DeFoor said the proposed preamble “sounds really good to me.”
“I know the heart of those folks,” he said. “I know their commitment to Christ and to evangelism. I think they just need to make it explicit. … I think it's a good statement and very representative of the heart of what CBF is really about.”
— With additional reporting by Trennis Henderson and Greg Warner.