Once
to every person and nation Comes the moment to decide,
In
the strife of truth and falsehood, For the good and evil side;
Some
great cause, some great decision, Off’ring each the bloom or blight,
And
the choice goes on forever Twixt the darkness and the light.
Then
to side with truth is noble, When we share her wretched crust,
Ere
her cause bring fame and profit, And tis prosperous to be just;
Then
it is the brave one chooses While the coward stands aside,
Till
the multitude makes virtue Of the faith they had denied.
By
the light of burning martyrs, Christ, thy bleeding feet we track,
Toiling
up new Calv’ries ever With the cross that turns not back;
New
occasions teach new duties, Time makes ancient good uncouth;
They
must upward still and onward, Who would keep abreast of truth.
Tho
the cause of evil prosper, Yet the truth alone is strong;
Tho
her portion be the scaffold, And up on the throne be wrong:
Yet
that scaffold sways the future, And, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth
God within the shadow, Keeping watch above his own.
I
have turned to the text of this great hymn often in these last few weeks leading
up to this meeting. The words are
apt as the Task Force on Baptist Faith, Practice and Cooperation brings
important recommendations to the church. Important
because these are historic recommendations.
Important because these are difficult decisions.
It is not the first time Second has made historic or difficult decision. I believe these types of decisions are what has made this a
strong, vibrant and great church for 158 years.
In
1843, two years before the founding of the Southern Baptist Convention, a group
of 12 Christians who had a passion for missions, went against the prevailing
thought of Baptist life in this area and started the Second Baptist
Church in Liberty. Because of their
stand on missions, the local Fishing River Baptist Association would not have
them as members. Not only did they
begin a new church, they were the leading force in creating a new association
for kindred Baptist churches.
Nearly
50 years later, in spite of vocal condemnation from Southern Baptist leaders,
Baptist women were organizing the Woman’s Missionary Union.
In Missouri, when these women were seeking to begin their own
organization, it was Second Baptist Church that made the controversial, yet
courageous, decision to host a meeting of, by and for women interested in
missions.
In
1918, Second Baptist Church made another important—and unpopular—decision to
accept members who had received alien immersion baptisms—baptisms performed by
churches of other faiths. In a
resolution published in Word & Way and in letters sent to every
teacher at William Jewell College, the Baptist church in Eldon demanded that
every person connected with the College withdraw membership from Second Baptist
Church until the church conformed to Baptistic teachings and practices.
Imagine that—teachers at the College being pressured over a decision
made by their local church. It was unBaptist then and it’s unBaptist now.
These
three lessons from history remind us that Second Baptist Church has never been
afraid of controversy when matters of integrity, freedom and conscience are at
stake. We bring these
recommendations to you tonight because the very core of what it means to be a
Baptist has changed and the integrity, freedom and conscience of our church is
threatened.
We
believe the moment has come for us to decide.
Therefore,
our first recommendation is an identity statement, which we hope will stand to
further articulate the church mission statement and how we intend to fulfill
that statement. Brad Chance will
come now to read the proposed statement.
This
statement will be an important companion to the church’s 1989 mission
statement. Based upon our study of
Shurden’s book The Baptist Identity, this statement is brief and
general so that no member is limited by too narrow an interpretation of what it
means to be Baptist. After leading
our church through this process over the past year, we believe it is important
that we adopt a brief statement providing a general definition about our
church’s view of Baptist identity. This
statement will be helpful to prospective members and future staff members,
seeking to know more about our church.
With this understanding, the task force unanimously moves the adoption of
this identity statement.
[Discussion
of identity statement]
Our
specific task, given by the church, was to examine and recommend actions
regarding our relationship to and funding of the Missouri Baptist Convention and
the Southern Baptist Convention. Our
recommendation is the culmination of this examination, church-wide study and
congregational input on our relationship and support of these two organizations.
We
believe it is important that all of us hear the resolution read together
tonight. David Moore will read it
at this time.
[Proposed
resolution and move for its adoption]
There
are many in this church whose family ties to the Southern Baptist Convention run
deep and have existed for many generations. We bring this recommendation to dissolve our relationship
with the Southern Baptist Convention with a great deal of sadness.
For most of us, it was the Southern Baptist Convention and programs such
as Sunday School, RA’s, BYPU, training union, church training and so many
more, which brought about our love of church, our zeal for missions and our
unwavering support for missionaries.
We
also bring this recommendation with a deep conviction of conscience.
It was the Southern Baptist Convention, which stood for the historic
Baptist principles of congregational freedom, the priesthood of all believers,
religious liberty, and church-state separation.
But these are no longer the valued principles of the new Southern Baptist
Convention. Approval of the
identity statement is evidence that these historic Baptist principles and
freedoms are highly valued by this congregation.
The
Missouri Baptist Convention is quickly becoming a carbon copy of the Southern
Baptist Convention. The
fundamentalist takeover of our state will be complete in October when the
majority of the executive board will be comprised of pro-SBC Fundamentalists.
Baptist freedom will soon be lost in the Missouri Baptist Convention.
While we are not asking the church to dissolve our ties to the Missouri
Baptist Convention, we are recommending that we significantly alter our MBC
giving so that we financially support Missouri Baptist ministries and causes
which are free.
And
now we give this recommendation over to you for your discussion and our
collective decision. As we have
promised, we request, Mr. Moderator, that by unanimous consent this vote be
taken by secret ballot.
[Discussion
on the Resolution]
With
approval of the resolution, it is necessary to amend Article XII of our
constitution, on electing messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention.
The task force will present that amendment at the quarterly church
conference in June.
At
this time Laura Webb will read and move the adoption of our recommendation on
reallocation of Missouri Baptist Convention funding.
[Recommendation
for MBC 2001 Budget Reallocation and move its adoption]
This
unanimous recommendation from the task force received overwhelming support from
those who attended the last town hall meeting. It represents our best attempt to
deal with these funds during this calendar year. We hope these percentages won’t be written in stone.
Future missions support committees must have the freedom to refigure
these allocations based on the church’s missions priorities.
[Discussion]
This
concludes our report tonight, but as we leave, let me offer some words of
gratitude. First, to the staff for
their administrative and clerical support of our work.
And
on behalf of the task force, let me express our deep appreciation for the
seriousness with which you participated in this process, for your words of
advice and encouragement to us, and for the positive spirit of these
deliberations.