The revelations about some of the things happening at the Southern Baptist Convention’s “entities” have led some churches to reconsider their Cooperative Program giving. In response, a key leader within the Convention has criticized those churches that do this.
I received a couple of e-mail blasts last week.
Timothy Pigg– the network director of the Conservative Baptist Network– wrote the following:
You can be part of reaching the world with the gospel and make a massive impact in the Great Commission without giving to a national entity. You can train pastors for the glory of God without a regional seminary supported by a Cooperative Program.
Please hear me carefully…your church size does not determine if you can do the things that I listed above. You can be a small or large church and make a big impact in your community, country, and world. The size of your church and/or the percentage of the amount of money you give to Cooperative Program is not the indicator of the size impact you can make as a congregation.
Listen, you might be part of a faithful congregation of 50 people and you can still train pastors, send missionaries, plant churches, and make an impact in your community. Your role in God’s Kingdom is much bigger than just sending a check and letting the Convention do the work. You can do the work. You can practically be part of everything that I have shared.
If you want to be part of something bigger than just writing a check, let me know. Let’s chat about how our Network is connecting churches together to fulfill the Great Commission and influence culture with a Biblical worldview.
Scott Colter, the director of the Danbury Institute, wrote the following:
(A)s the SBC continues to resist transparency and accountability to its own doctrinal convictions, more pastors are disengaging, aligning with alternative avenues, and choosing their own course. Even the recent diatribe by the current SBC Executive Committee CEO—which absurdly compared conservative Southern Baptists to the LGBTQ movement—has backfired, further propelling the continued decline in Cooperative Program giving.
It is still possible to reverse course, to change direction, and to return to the path of courage and conviction. Some have done so successfully. But the further we travel, the more difficult it becomes. May we have ears to hear and eyes to see that indeed, the Lord is doing a new thing.
Isaiah 43:19
“Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming—do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.”
I suspect, like a lot of “leaders”, they see rebellions as a threat to their prestige and POWER !!
You summarized it precisely, Fred. They also don’t want to be accountable for what they are doing– mismanaging, and tilting things to the left.