2023 SBC Annual Meeting Review

Last week, the Southern Baptist Convention held its Annual Meeting. Gathering in New Orleans, LA, there were nearly 19,000 in attendance. Of these, 12,737 were registered messengers (messengers are similar to delegates) from 4,423 churches. During the two days of meetings, the messengers worked through a packed schedule that included changes to the doctrinal statement of the Convention and a constitutional amendment, among many other things. Southern Baptists are unique in that we have our debates over critical issues in public with the opportunity of any registered messengers to speak. This does not always make for flattering soundbites in the news and sometimes leads outside observers to think that we are contentious and in constant conflict. For those who attend the meetings and participate in the decisions, even in greatly debated issues, we generally depart the annual meeting more encouraged in the work and cooperation of the SBC. Below are some of the more significant decisions of the messengers to this year’s annual meeting.

Presidential Election

The president of the SBC is elected to a one-year term and may be reelected to a second term. Historically SBC presidents have not faced any challengers for their second term except for a few rare exceptions. This year SBC president Bart Barber, a pastor from Farmers Branch, TX, was challenged by Mike Stone, a pastor from Blackshear, GA. However, with a vote of 68.38%, the messengers affirmed the leadership of Barber and reelected him to a second term.

Qualifications for pastor/elder/overseer

On several fronts, the issue of the biblical qualifications for the office of pastor was confronted.

Dismissal of churches

The most publicized was the dismissal of two churches who have women serving as pastors.

The Convention's governing documents prescribe a process for deciding when questions arise concerning whether a church is in friendly cooperation with the Convention. That process concludes with the Executive Committee voting on the dismissal of a church. If a church is dismissed, it can no longer send messengers to the annual meeting. This process permits the dismissed church the option to appeal the Executive Committee's decision. Not all churches choose to appeal, but this year three churches did. Two had been dismissed for having female pastors, and one for calling a pastor disqualified because of sexually abusing those under his pastoral care.

The vote of the messengers was whether to sustain or overturn the Executive Committee's decisions. In all three appeals, the messengers overwhelmingly upheld the decision to dismiss the churches.

The appeal that received the most coverage was of Saddleback church in California. Rick Warren founded Saddleback, and it has grown to be one of the largest churches in America. I was very disappointed in how Rick Warren attempted to influence the SBC with significant media ad purchases, targeted emails, and other online efforts. Of all the issues that face the Convention, the question of the office of pastor being restricted to men has been settled since our founding. Because of church autonomy, Saddleback is free to call whoever they wish as a pastor, but they are not free to reject the SBC stated convictions and remain in fellowship with the Convention. It was divisive for the church to demand that the Convention adjust its biblical convictions to accommodate their waffling convictions. Furthermore, Warren, who I believe has a solid understanding of the issue, unfairly accused the SBC of denying that women could teach or have other useful roles in the church. For the SBC, the issue is a biblical conviction that the office of pastor/elder/overseer is restricted to men, not that all ministry and service roles in the church are restricted to men.

BFM 2000

To clarify the Convention's position on this issue, the messengers made changes to the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 and started the process of amending the SBC Constitution.

The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, which is the Convention's statement of faith, was not conceived in the year 2000 but was the continuation of a long history of confessions that have articulated Baptist understandings of faith and practice. Historically, Baptist confessions have recognized the two offices of the church as pastor and deacon. When referencing the office of pastor, Baptist confessions have used the titles of elder, pastor, overseer, and bishop.

The London Confession of 1689 referenced "bishops or elders, and deacons," The 1833 New Hampshire Confession referenced "bishops or pastors and deacons," and the 1925 Baptist Faith and Message referenced "bishops, or elders, and deacons." In the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message, the titles of bishop and elder were dropped, and only the titles of pastor and deacon were used. The change in terminology between the 1925 and 1963 confessions was not due to a shift in understanding or qualifications of the office of pastor but conforming to the more common usage of the term pastor over the use of elder. However, over the course of the following years, the title of pastor began to be often used to refer to positions related to church staffing more than the biblical office of elder/pastor/overseer. In the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, a sentence was added to clarify the office of pastor that read, "While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture."

I believe that the language of the BFM 2000 is sufficient; however, clarifying that the office of pastor is not simply someone who works for a church but rather a biblically qualified elder/pastor/overseer is helpful. The language of the BFM 2000 Article VI. on the church was amended to read:

Its [The Church] two scriptural offices are that of pastor/elder/overseer and deacon. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

I am thankful this amendment was made, but it comes with some concerns. The doctrinal statement of a denomination should not be something that is constantly changing. It may be time to consider a new edition of the BFM, and the messengers approved a task force to study the issue. However, though I voted for the amendment, it would be untenable if the Convention were to frequently make amendments to the BFM 2000.

Constitution

The messengers also approved an amendment to add a 6th enumerated item under Article 3, Paragraph 1 of the constitution. The Executive Committee reported that they believed that the "request of the motion is adequately satisfied in the current language of the Convention's constitution and adopted statement of faith." Still, it recognized the significance of the matter and the prudence of placing the motion before the body of messengers while expressing their opposition to the amendment.

Article 6 of the constitution describes the composition of the Convention as "messengers who are members of Baptist churches in cooperation with the Convention." Paragraph 1 articulates how the Convention will determine if a church is "in friendly cooperation with the Convention, and sympathetic with its purposes and work." Currently, five items are listed, which include having a faith and practice closely identifying with the Convention's statement of faith, which excludes affirming homosexual behavior, formally approved an intention to cooperate with the SBC, making financial contributions to the Convention, not acting inconsistent with the Convention's beliefs regarding sexual abuse, and not affirming racism.

The enumerated items in Article 3 are specific examples of what does and does not constitute friendly cooperation. It would be impossible to list every situation whereby a church might be found not in friendly cooperation and unadvisable to attempt to enumerate every possible situation. However, because the issue of churches calling women to serve as elder/pastor/overseer has become confusing, the messengers felt this amendment was necessary. For the constitution to be amended, it requires the approval of the messengers at two consecutive annual meetings. Thus, having been approved this year, the messengers of the 2024 Annual Meeting will also have to approve it.

The amendment would add a 6th enumeration stating that churches "affirm, appoint, or employ "only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture."

Abuse Reform Implementation Taskforce

The ARITF was established by the messengers of the 2022 annual meeting. The ARITF reported on their work this year in creating resources for churches and state denominations. What was of most interests to the messengers was their progress on the creation and launch of a MinistryCheck website. The website will include a searchable database of known sexual abusers. The messengers of the 2022 annual meeting approved four criteria for being put on the list: confession in a non-privileged setting, conviction in a court of law, civil judgment rendered, or determination by an independent third party according to a preponderance of evidence. This fourth criterion is the one that has caused the most concern. Often referred to as creditably accused, many raised concerns about this last criterion. There has been ample discussion over how this will be defined, and many raised concerns over being falsely accused. Responding to these concerns, the ARITF will launch the MinistryCheck website with only the first three criteria while they continue to work on the fourth.

The work of the ARITF is difficult and heart-wrenching. They have done well and have been very responsive to the concerns raised about the website. The task force responded to many of the concerns raised and settled most of the messengers' questions. They asked for and were overwhelmingly approved for an additional year of operation.

Resolutions

The messengers approved nine resolutions. Among them was a resolution on artificial intelligence and emerging technology. The SBC is the first denomination to make a statement on this subject.

Final thoughts

A need for more time to consider business.

In years past, when there were fewer debated issues before the Convention, decisions were made to shorten the scheduled sessions. Before I began attending annual meetings (20 years ago), the SBC met for the entire week. Since my time in ministry, the SBC annual meeting has been only two days, with each day having morning, afternoon, and evening sessions. A few years ago, the evening sessions were dropped. In recent years the Annual Meeting has had significantly more business to consider. As a result, messengers must arrive promptly at 8 am and stay in their seats until the closing gavel. It also means that there is often insufficient time to debate the business before the time allotted expires. If the amount of business considered by the messengers continues to be at present levels, consideration will need to be given to expanding the time of the sessions.

Waning influence of the disgruntled.

For a few years, a group within the SBC has accused the denomination of drifting left. Based on this concern, they have organized and attempted to gather support and push their agenda. In recent years their agenda has been rejected, as well as their preferred candidates.

I had two conversations that captured well the messenger's response to this group. The first was with a pastor I know well and came to the annual meeting, having heard the accusations and concerns of those who decry a leftward drift, with grave concerns and questions. In our conversation following some of the critical elections and debated business, he said that his concerns had been relieved and that he planned to report back to his church positively concerning the messengers' actions and the Convention's leadership.

The second conversation was with a pastor I had never met before while standing in line waiting to be seated at a restaurant (It was a long line and a long wait). His background made him very sympathetic to those who see a liberal drift, but he confessed that he did not see it himself. He was quick to say that if ever things changed, he would be the first to change direction, but with the current leadership and with the current decisions of the messengers, he was confident that the theological and doctrinal moorings of the Convention were secure.

In a denomination as large as the SBC, I have no doubt that there are churches and individuals who do not align with our statement of faith. However, these are exceptions to the norm. It is my sense that the messengers have heard the concerns of those who have claimed that the leaders of the Convention were driving us away from our biblical convictions and found these claims to be unfounded. I left New Orleans thankful for the leadership of those who have had to work through very challenging issues and confident that the messengers of the SBC remain committed to biblical conviction and the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.