GCR Task Force Additional Reflections

There has been a lot of discussion from fellow directors of missions/associational missionaries, state missionaries, and some pastors regarding the preliminary report of the SBC Great Commission Resurgence Task Force released last month. Last week I had the opportunity to listed to a recorded conference call with several members of the task force hosted by the Network of Baptist Associations, a group I have been affiliated with for the past four years. I must say that I was more encouraged by the clarifications I heard in the conference call than I was by the written preliminary report. That being said, however, I still have concerns about a process that originates from the floor of the Southern Baptist Convention, and what impact a national statement and subsequent realignment of national entities can have on the work that belongs to the local congregation.

I will be the first to admit that most of our SBC churches, while they may affirm verbal and even financial support for the Great Commission, do not act like Great Commission churches. For several decades we in denominational life challenged our churches to get with the "program." Many, if not most of them did get with the program. However, somewhere over the past 20-25 years, the "program" stopped being effective-- culture was changing at an increasing pace, and methodologies in use fell way behind the times. The focus was inward, on sustaining the organization, having good programs, bolstering attendance finances, but little attention was given to encouraging individual churches and individual members to fulfil the Great Commission in their world and their lives.

In 2004-5 the North American Mission Board rolled out the Acts 1:8 Challenge/strategy, an effort to challenge churches to focus on becoming a Great Commission church in the context of Acts 1:8- Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. Because it was presented as a strategic framework based on scripture for the local church, I was encouraged. I prayed it would not just become another "emphasis" or another slogan. I still pray that prayer and continue to believe that for many churches, an Acts 1:8 strategy can move them out of their lethargy into significant missional engagement.

Since most of the preliminary report of the GCR Task Force focuses on the work of the North American Mission Board, those recommendations have generated the most discussion. Most people I have talked with have little objection to the tenor of the report and to many of the recommendations. However, there is concern about the development of a "national strategy for church planting" and the phasing out of the cooperative agreements with the states. I personally have no problem with reworking these "cooperative agreements" and even with phasing out some of them. However, my colleagues in Pennsylvania/S. Jersey, Michigan, or Nevada will know far better how to develop a church planting strategy for their regions than would a group of NAMB missionaries in Alpharetta. While "decentralizing" NAMB might sound good on paper, would not these regional offices be seeking to supplant the existing conventions and associations in those areas. I am very reticent to give any more control to a national agency when in reality, the real control needs to be at the local level where missionaries are in touch with the real issues and have real relationships.

Likewise, I am convinced that a top-down "national strategy" will have little or no impact on local churches. Obviously we need revival. Obviously our churches need to get busy doing the Kingdom work Jesus has called them to do. Perhaps a coalition of the willing among those who have a passion for impacting lostness will be what brings about resurgence, not a national strategy.

In our association of churches, we are always looking for those churches that are being creative in how they impact their communities with the gospel so that we can highlight their work and encourage others to do similar things. It is slow, but it is catching on. We don't try to get any church to do any program, but simply challenge them to pray, seek God's vision for their church, and let us come along side and help resource that vision. We only are asking them to do what God tells them to do. It's hard getting them to buy into this after all those years of promoting programs, but I am convinced that is the only way we will impact lostness in our area.