Baptist Pastor Questions 'Narrow Parameters' of Fellow Baptists
Correction appended
In response to a fellow Southern Baptist's critical comments against the emerging church movement within the denomination, one pastor called the remarks "reprehensible and unconscionable."
"I find it reprehensible and unconscionable that someone would call a Southern Baptist Church in Missouri, one that is reaching people for Christ and now running over 1,200 in worship, 'deceptive' and 'dangerous,'" said Wade Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Okla., in a Tuesday post on his web log.
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Burleson was referring to comments made by Roger Moran, a Southern Baptist layman that some consider the most powerful Baptist in the state of Missouri. Moran had raised concern earlier this year over the rise of the emerging church movement, including a local church called The Journey, and its "infiltrating" Southern Baptist life. He questioned some of the controversial approaches that The Journey is taking to draw the unchurched, such as holding theological discussions at a pub.
"They say they have a passion for reaching people for Christ … and I think that they do," Moran told St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper. "But I think they cross the line in becoming so much like the world."
"Why in the world do we waste our time trying to identify the 'deceptive' and 'dangerous' within our own convention?" posed Burleson. "Could it be that the real enemy is being ignored and those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ and part of the Southern Baptist Convention are being unnecessarily attacked?"
Although the church calls itself "interdenominational," The Journey in St. Louis has ties with the Missouri Baptist Convention – the state arm of the SBC – which provided a $200,000 loan for the church.
Darrin Patrick, founder and pastor of The Journey, said earlier this year that his ministry and the Missouri Baptist Convention share the same goals - to reach out and help the poor.
"When you partner with other people, you invite conflict," he told the Associated Press. "But if we're both going in the same general direction, why not link arms?"
Burleson shared a similar view.
"There is room in my convention for everyone who holds to the fundamentals of the faith and seeks to cooperate for the purpose of missions and evangelism," he wrote in his blog page. "I can't figure out why some wish to continue to narrow the parameters of cooperation and exclude fellow, Bible believing Southern Baptists from missions participation and convention leadership."
His comments come as Southern Baptists look to reaffirm their identity in the midst of controversies and debates around such issues as worship style, charismatic practices and control.
Some Southern Baptist leaders say their belief in the inerrancy of Scripture has kept them a strong denomination and continue to stress the "exclusivity of the Gospel," as David S. Dockery, president of Union University in Jackson, Tenn., said at a Baptist Identity II conference in February.
The denomination is trying to move away from controversy to a new commitment and cooperation.
Meanwhile, Burleson says, "We must get to the place where we no longer see fellow Southern Baptists as the enemy."
Correction: Friday, April 13, 2007.
An article on Wednesday, Apr. 4, 2007, about a Southern Baptist leader's remarks on the emerging church movement incorrectly reported that a church in St. Louis provides beer during theological discussions. The Journey, a church that has ties to the Missouri Baptist Convention, does not provide beer at its regular "Midrash" forum, but does hold discussions at various locations in their community, one of which is a pub.
