For my entire life and to this day, I have been a proud Southern Baptist. As the humorous cliche among people in our denomination goes, I was a Southern Baptist nine months before I was even born. When I was younger, like essentially all churchgoing Baptists, I attended a Baptist church because that is where my parents attended, but after I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and Lord and matured in my faith, I became a Baptist by conviction rather than by mere birth. I believe Baptist theology best represents the holistic teachings of Scripture, viewing God's inerrant Word as the chief foundation for the development of every doctrine. Baptists themselves are, obviously, far from perfect in their quest for doctrinal purity and are additionally far from perfect in their personal and corporate lives as well, but for me, despite our numerous shortcomings, being a Baptist is a conviction I hold near and dear to my heart.
One of the many distinct aspects about being a Southern Baptist I particularly appreciate is our desire to cooperate for the sake of the gospel. We view other churches not as competition but as colaborers, partners working together to make disciples of all nations. These partnerships are highlighted by the relationships found in local associations and in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) itself. We recognize that not everyone and not every church can do everything for the kingdom of God, but everyone and every church can do something for the kingdom of God, and in order to maximize our gospel effectiveness, we need each other's support and encouragement to reach the world with the good news that Jesus saves. In a sense, cooperation in the gospel is what makes Baptists unique from other denominations.
Part of this value of collaboration is the privilege each church has, regardless of congregational size or financial resources, to have their voices heard on the local, state, and national levels in some capacity. Each church in the convention is permitted to send messengers to associational meetings as well as to state and national conventions, and with this responsibility comes the ability to further partner together for the gospel's sake. Baptist authority does not reside in a church hierarchy, where one governing person or body makes the decisions for the rest of the denomination, but rather, Baptist authority resides in the local church and the voice of its messengers. While we elect certain leaders at all the aforementioned geographical levels, they are elected to serve the will of the churches and their messengers, not so that the churches and their messengers can serve their will.
That last statement is the driving motivation behind this post, and to be frank, I am writing these words with a grieving spirit. If you are unaware of what is presently happening in Southern Baptist life, at the most recent Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in June 2021, over 15,000 messengers gathered in Nashville, Tennessee, and voted to open a third-party investigation into how the convention's Executive Committee (which acts on the convention's behalf in between sessions) responded in the past to allegations of abuse. According to an article from Christianity Today, a series of leaked materials suggested that the committee's leaders were negligent in how they handled the reporting of abuse victims from various churches. At this annual meeting, the messengers made it clear that Southern Baptists wanted this matter thoroughly investigated without any interference from the Executive Committee.
Then, when the Executive Committee convened in Nashville in September for a special called meeting, the committee balked at allowing for a transparent investigation, hesitating to waive attorney-client privilege while also condemning all forms of sexual abuse and mistreatment of victims. Moreover, the committee commendably agreed to fund the upcoming investigation, but in order for the third-party investigators to have access to important documents from the committee, this privilege must first be waived, and the trepidation to do so is rooted in a concern for the financial stability of the convention as a whole, among other specified reasons. The waving of this privilege ensures that the investigation is as open as possible. Sadly, a further delay in the negotiations this week allows for more smoke to rise from a fire that should not have been ignited in the first place.
The actions of the Executive Committee up to this point are, in my humble opinion, extremely troubling, to say the least. First of all, the inability to permit the investigation from being a true third-party investigation fails to meet the expectations of the messengers at the June annual meeting. The messengers collectively expressed a desire for this issue to be dealt with without any influence from the committee in question, and in essence, this development dismisses the will of messengers in a deeply concerning manner. The Executive Committee has effectively elevated its own will over the will of the messengers, which is a dangerous precedent to set in Baptist life because it implies that the governing entities of the SBC can actually have the final say in decision-making if they so desire to have it. This prohibits the voice of the messengers from being sincerely heard in this scenario and opens up the possibility of further overreach from entities such as the Executive Committee in the future, a perilous slippery slope to begin sliding down. Baptists pride themselves on being people who value the voices of all its members in decision-making, and traditionally, we do not allow a singular person or group of people to control all the power and influence. Unfortunately, however, this action of the Executive Committee devalues the voices of messengers and inflates the voices of the Executive Committee's members to an unhealthy level. This is not how Baptist polity should be handled.
Secondarily, though, and this is a far more important point, this action shows a discouraging lack of care for these victims of abuse. The committee's concern for the financial wellbeing of the Southern Baptist Convention above all, while understandable to an extent, is basically outweighing the spiritual and mental wellbeing of the individuals who are the true victims here. I pray this was the not the overt intention, but such an action declares to these victims that the institution of the Southern Baptist Convention matters more than they do, and if we care more about institutions than we care about people, we have failed the gospel. People, both men and women of all races and nationalities, are created in God's image and therefore have intrinsic value to Him (see Genesis 1:26-27 and Psalm 139:13-16). People matter to our Lord, and even though we have willfully rebelled against Him and fallen short of His glory by sinning, He proved that we matter to Him in the way He sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for the whole world in the ultimate demonstration of His love (see Romans 5:8). It may sound overly simplistic, but Christ died to save people.
God's desire is for everyone from everywhere to repent of their sins and trust in Christ crucified and resurrected for salvation (see John 3:16 and 2 Peter 3:9). Once a sinner enters into a personal relationship with God through Jesus, they become a part of the body of Christ, which is the church, and every member of the body is vitally important (see Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12). Thus, whenever one member of the body suffers, the whole body should suffer. Think back to the last time you stubbed your toe: while your toe was the only body part struck, your whole demeanor was actually affected as a result of the pain. That is what should happen when someone in the body of Christ is abused in any capacity. The whole body should hurt alongside of them as we all seek justice together for the unjust acts done to them. The gospel of Jesus Christ not only reconciles sinners to God, but it also reconciles people to each other (see 2 Corinthians 5:18). Therefore, as a reconciled body, we must rejoice when others rejoice and we must weep when others weep. The Christian life is meant to be lived in community, and within that community, we must "[b]ear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2).
Since God cares so incredibly for people, it stands to reason that God despises when those people experience injustice. We read in the Old Testament that He "works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed" (Psalm 103:6). An inevitable side effect of living in a broken world occupied by broken people is that some broken people often do wrong to other broken people, and this grieves the heart of God because He is, after all, a just God (see Deuteronomy 32:4 and Psalm 89:14). God cares for the widow, the orphan, and, in this case, the abused, and God's longing for justice should naturally extend to His followers, which is why they are commanded to "do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with [their] God" (Micah 6:8). If justice matters to God, it needs to matter to us too.
Simply put, the actions of the Executive Committee do not exhibit a care for people or for justice. In this disregard for the victims of abuse, the committee has valued the longevity of the SBC over the souls of image-bearing individuals who have been wronged and have had their voices silenced in favor of institutional stability. That is not the Southern Baptist Convention I know, and I pray that God would have mercy on us for the ways we have failed Him over the last couple of weeks. I do not wish to condemn the Executive Committee, for I am in need of God's grace just as much as anyone else. No one on this committee is perfect, and I know for a fact that I am not perfect, but I am grateful that God's grace will always be greater than our sin. The Bible further emphasizes for us that "[i]f we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). I only petition the committee to repent of the sin of devaluing people and impeding justice, and then, I ask them to willingly allow for the will of the messengers to rule the day, not only for the sake of Baptist polity but for the sake of the abused. Primarily, I desire for our convention to reflect the heart of God, and it is with a heavy heart that I perceive that not to be the case as long as this lack of care for individuals persists.
Our convention is at an important crossroads. I am not advocating for a dismantling of the SBC, but I do genuinely believe we are in desperate need of introspection at this crucial time in our history. I implore my fellow Baptist brothers and sisters in Christ on the Executive Committee to swallow any and all pride and to do the right thing, to do what God calls and expects us to do. While I am concerned for the disregard of the will of the messengers, I am far more concerned with the presence of perceived apathy towards those in our denomination and elsewhere who are hurting because of the abuse they have experienced. Pursuing justice necessitates that we stand with the oppressed, not inhibit the oppressor. May God break our hearts for what breaks His, and may we, as disciples of Christ on the Executive Committee or otherwise, care far more about the spiritual and mental wellbeing of both men and women than we care about the vitality of conventions or committees.
For His glory,
Cody Fleenor
