The preamble of the Baptist Faith and Message (1925, 1963, and 2000!) emphasizes “That the sole authority for faith and practice among Baptists is the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Confessions are only guides in interpretation, having no authority over the conscience.” Let’s keep it that way.

As Baptists …

We unite based on certain core doctrines: the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the authority of the Bible, salvation by grace through faith in Jesus, believer’s baptism, the priesthood of each believer, and soul competency.

Our unity in belief leads to core practices: congregational church governance, autonomy of each local church, voluntary cooperation, and religious freedom. 

Our unity in belief and practices leads us to core ministry: evangelism, missions, education, and social concern. 

Although I will remain in Texas this week, Baptists will gather in Orlando for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention.  The nature of our cooperation will be debated. 

We believe in soul competency which provides the God-given freedom and ability of persons to know and respond to God’s will.   Let’s keep it that way.

We believe in every believer as a priest who is empowered and equipped to do the work of God. Let’s keep it that way. 

We believe the church is an autonomous body, operating under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Let’s keep it that way.

We believe that churches should voluntarily cooperate with associations and conventions to participate in the advancement of the kingdom of God, but no such organizations should have authority over the churches.  Let’s keep it that way.

We believe that the headquarters of the convention is the local church.  Let’s keep it that way.

Here are two articles I found helpful regarding the debate over our cooperation (links provided in headings):

A Letter to My Church About the Mohler Amendment by Heath Woolman

An excerpt:

“I do believe it is time to stop the maneuvering. It’s time to stop the division. It’s time to stop acting like the world and worldly systems. It’s time to start being the Church. It’s time to make the main thing the main thing again. It’s time to say what we mean and mean what we say. It’s time to lock arms instead of finding ways to push more people away. It’s time to put the burden of faithfulness back in the hands of autonomous churches. It’s time to advance the gospel with anyone who will “closely identify” with the BF&M and get to work pushing back the darkness of this world.

Do we need clarity? Yes.

Do we need unity? Yes.

Do we need to allow these matters that are secondary to the gospel to continue to hinder our ability to accomplish the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:36-40) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20)? Absolutely not.

Do we need to find ourselves debating in ways that marginalize, wound, and bring into question the countless women who serve faithfully and biblically within our churches? No.

Rather, we must seek biblical clarity and conviction in a manner that edifies, builds up, and shows great honor to our female co-laborers who rightfully and faithfully serve as legitimate, valued, and cherished members of the Body of Christ in all ways that align with the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 12:12-26).”

The Terms of Our Cooperation by Ken Hemphill

Excerpts:

“What is now being proposed would be a clear departure from historical Baptist polity in regard to local churches and the denominational structure which affirms local church autonomy and voluntary cooperation. Such a move will subtly but clearly move us from a bottom-up governance to a top-down structure. This sort of polity is more akin to an episcopal model than a congregational model of voluntary cooperation. The potential ramifications of such a change are too many for this short article.”

and

“During the conservative resurgence, the danger of the slippery slope was often invoked to warn against the creeping dangers of liberalism. We forget that the slippery slope can also function in the opposite direction. We must guard against embarking on a path that will divide us on forbidden functions for women rather than unifying us around the Great Commission. And while the recent addition of the “specifically” clause may be intended to help us avoid that, the inclusion of function in any way should leave Southern Baptists concerned about the unintended consequences.”