ALPHARETTA, GA. (ABP) — New guidelines for starting Southern Baptist churches ask members of new congregations to affirm biblical inerrancy and male-only deacons.
The guidelines, adopted Oct. 6 by trustees of the North American Mission Board, do not apply to existing Southern Baptist congregations but can be applied to the 1,500 new churches planted by NAMB each year. Although the guidelines could be used to exclude funding of new congregations that decline to adhere to its standards, officials of the Southern Baptist agency said the guidelines won't be used for that purpose.
“It's a statement of guidelines, not a checklist of dos and don'ts,” said Martin King, a NAMB spokesman.
The document, titled “Ecclesiological Guidelines to Inform Southern Baptist Church Planters” and approved Oct. 6 by NAMB trustees, addresses such issues as the authority of a Baptist church, classic marks of a true church, congregational polity and autonomy, as well as the offices, ordinances and mission of a New Testament church.
The document says all Baptist congregations should require members to accept a church covenant that affirms, among other things, the inerrancy of Scripture.
“Whether a church is a new work or an existing, well-established congregation, each Baptist church should have a covenant. Church covenants are usually written, and each person must agree to the covenant as a condition of membership into a local congregation. Covenants are based upon and must reflect biblical principles.
Although they may state the various beliefs and convictions of the congregation, the covenant of a Baptist church must minimally affirm three things: the Lordship of Jesus Christ over the church and its members; the divine inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of the Bible; and the membership of the church consisting only of regenerate persons who have professed their faith in believer's baptism by immersion.”
Written by Stan Norman, associate professor of theology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, the document was affirmed by the deans of the SBC's six seminaries and by two seminary presidents, Paige Patterson of Southwestern and Phil Roberts of Midwestern Baptist Theological seminaries.
The North American Mission Board typically works in conjunction with Baptist state conventions and local associations to plant new churches. The guidelines could be part of the negotiation about which new congregations receive NAMB funding, King said. Agency officials will work to be sure its materials, training, strategies and initiatives aren't outside the bounds of the document, he said.
Several state convention officials contacted about this story were reluctant to comment.
Ken Hall, president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, criticized the new guidelines. “This act saddens me and further breaks my heart that Southern Baptist agencies and institutions are continuing to move away from historic Baptist positions,” said Hall, president of Buckner Baptist Benevolences in Dallas.
Texas Baptist officials said the guidelines will not hinder the state convention's church-planting partnership with NAMB, since the convention has negotiated a cooperative agreement that bypasses most NAMB restrictions.
“I am thrilled that the BGCT and other free Baptists are focused on reaching a lost world and strengthening the work of local churches,” Hall said.
Milton Hollifield, an official of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, said NAMB officials had indicated the guidelines are not intended to be a hindrance to church-planting efforts.
“I think this is a statement for planting what they see as a New Testament, Southern Baptist church containing foundational principles, rather than something that will be used to determine funding or lack of funding,” Hollifield said. Hollifield said he thinks the guidelines contain helpful information for church planters and leaders of new churches who do not have a Baptist background.
The guidelines include a commitment to the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, the Southern Baptist Convention's official doctrinal statement. But the doctrinal statement neither uses the term “inerrancy” nor addresses women's ordination as deacons.
While the 2000 BF&M “leaves open the issue of whether or not women can serve as deaconesses in SBC churches,” noted Norman, the guidelines' author, “[m]y position is that, if a local church ordains its deacons, then women cannot serve in this capacity.
“In SBC life, ordination carries with it implications of authority and oversight, and I believe the Bible relegates authority and oversight to men,” the NAMB document adds. “If a church, however does not ordain its deacons, then the authority-oversight prohibitions would not apply. In that case, the generic meaning of the term 'deacon' … is that of a servant or a table waiter. Thus, any member of the congregation is qualified to serve.”
King said trustee approval of the document does not mean that Norman's opinion is now NAMB's official position on the issue of women deacons. The agency's support of a new church with women deacons might depend on what the deacons are doing, whether they are ordained, and the opinion of NAMB's church planting partners, he said.
Robert Reccord, NAMB president, told trustees the guidelines give the agency “a very clear statement of what we see to be a Baptist church. “We are not planting 'baptistic' churches. We are not planting churches that resemble what Baptists are. We are planting Southern Baptist churches that reflect what a biblical New Testament church is.”
Reccord said the document was needed because of the rapid proliferation across the country of some non-biblical church models, including the 'family' or 'simple' church networks.
“In many parts of North America, an errant theology of church has begun to spread, especially in a few younger church planters, because these non-biblical models sound good and it's easy to get sucked in,” he said. “A church cannot be myself and my wife meeting in our home, and it's we two and no more. That is not a church. What we're doing with this document is giving guidelines to ensure that Southern Baptists are starting biblically sound New Testament churches.”
Norman wrote in the introduction that the guidelines and discussion will help NAMB to know the type of churches it affirms.
“Church planting strategies and endeavors must be conducted in such a way that they are obedient and submitted to the New Testament for faith and practice as well as committed to Baptist ecclesiology as stated in the Baptist Faith and Message 2000,” he said.
Trustee chairman Barry Holcomb said the paper would “prevent us from getting to the extremes, such as one account I read that said a family could use pancakes around the breakfast table for the Lord's Supper. This paper is a sound theological document and position.”
Trustee David Thompson, chairman of NAMB's church-planting committee and pastor of Northpointe Community Church in Old Hickory, Tenn., said: “I'm very passionate and excited about this document. One hundred years from now, much of what we do won't matter, but I believe this document will.”
The paper was approved by NAMB trustees with two dissenting votes. The complete document is available at www.namb.net.
In his report to the trustees, Reccord said his goal is to plant 11,000 new Southern Baptist churches by 2010.
In other business, NAMB trustees approved a 2005 budget of $120.7 million, a 2 percent increase over 2004, and appointed Randy Singer as president of the FamilyNet cable TV network through 2005, in addition to his responsibilities as chief counsel and special assistant to the president.
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— Compiled by Associated Baptist Press from various sources.