Last year, David Dockery’s book, Southern Baptist Consensus and Renewal was the “must read” book for Southern Baptists. This year, Dockery is once again responsible for one of (if not the most) the most important books on published on the Southern Baptist Convention. In light of the Great Commission Resurgence and the emphasis given to young leadership and the future of the SBC, Dockery’s Southern Baptist Identity is an important and necessary book for our convention. You can read Dockery’s interview about this book with Justin Taylor here.
The book is composed of essays, many of which have been presented at Union University’s Southern Baptist Identity Conferences, about the SBC. Authors include Albert Mohler, Greg Wills, Timothy George, Russell Moore, Paige Patterson, Morris Chapman, Ed Stetzer, Jim Shaddix, Thom Rainer, and Danny Akin. I found the entire book helpful. Most important, however, were the essays presented by Wills, George, Stetzer and Rainer.
I first heard George’s essay in a MP3 format, which can be found here, and confess to having listened to it at least 3 or 4 times in its entirety. It blew me away. Not only in his apt description of Baptist principles and strong words on Calvinism, but in his amazing description of his first church:
If you had to place this church on the map of Baptist typology, it would be a tthe outer edge of the bubling bilge of a rivulet washed up by the backwaters of Sandy Creek. And we were, a band of strangers living in teh shadows surrounded by fears. But when I later read about how the early Christians in Carthage were known to their neighbors by the love they had for one another, I knew what that meant, for this church embraced me and my folks with a love that was palpable…That little Baptist church taught me John 3:16, and “Jesus loves me this i know, for the Bible tells me so,” and “this little light of mine, I’m goinna let it shine, let it shine till Jesus comes.” They also taught me that I was a sinner and needed to be saved, that I coudn’t save myself, and that we were saved only by grace through faith, not of works lest anyone should boast.
If George’s essay is important for spelling out what it means to be a Baptist, Wills’ essay (audio) is important for it spells out what it means to be a Southern Baptist tracing the history of the Convention and the historical perspectives involved in the Conservative Resurgence. It is interesting to see how Wills exmines the two streams of understanding regarding what it means to be Baptist. Just as the conservatives and the moderates wrestled with whether “soul freedom” or adherance to the Bible was the defining characteristic of being Baptist, Wills shows that Southern Baptists in the 21st Century must continue to cling to the truths of God’s word as our guide, and not our own sinful conscience.
Finally, Stetzer and Shaddix give, what I believe to be the most important Essays in the entire book for the future of the SBC. I hoped to give a link to Stetzer’s written essay, but I have been informed it is not available online (though the audio is here). So, just follow the link to Amazon and buy the book. Trust me, it is worth your money.
Stetzer notes that missional has become something of a catch phrase in the SBC and notes that it is necessary to define what missional is. Stetzer’s definition is better than mine (though I think you should read mine too), but he also gives legs to this defninition. He writes:
Not all who use this term “missional” are missional. Some think of “missional” only as support of missions elsewhere in the world while neglecting their own neighborhoods. But missional churches seek to engage their immediate cultures as well as the ethne of the world. Giving to missions or going on short-term mission trips–as important as these are–do not fulfill our missional calling, nor does focusing exclusively on the church and its community while ignoring the rest of the world. Though the church’s immediate context is vitally important, the churches that are missional also focus on opportunities beyond their doorsteps to make Christ known. They involve the members in the minsitry and mission of church and gospel. As stated in the most recent Leadership Journal, “missional churches activate laity to carry out God’s mission in their various spheres of life.”
Stetzer pleads, not only for a convention open to “all kinds of scripturally sound churches,” but for aged and wise leaders who will reach out to these churches. He pleads for “a nationally known pastor who [has] crediblity with young pastors, and who [is] also clearly connected with the denomination.” In short, To be a missional convention, Stetzer shows that we must be a convention united around the Great Commission and doctrinal integrity and not divided over age and worhsip styles. We must seek first the Kingdom.
Finally, just when I thought Stetzer’s article was the one to end the book, Shaddix essay blew me away. His title, The Future of the Traditional Chruch, was not incredibly enticing, but once I jumped into it, I couldn’t put it down. WIth an adaptation of the parable of the Prodigal Son to contemporary Southern Baptist life, Shaddix essentially shows that the future of the traditional church lies with a contemporary culture. The youth of today are the church of tomorrow, and it is necessary that the traditional church reach out to its young leaders if it is to be viable into the future.
He goes on to argue that the traditional church isn’t dead, and even that there may be a future in traditional worship, but that traditional churches should be open to new leadership. The young leadership will return to traditional churches that show
a passionate and sacrificial abandonment to the mission of Jesus Christ. If they don’t, they won’t stay. If they do, they’ll embrace us again. And our attrition rate will go down, regardless of our musical styles and denominational forms…The traditional church will survive and thrive if its people have a change of heart about their God, his worship, and the people for whom he died.
This book is a must read for Southern Baptists. Not only to understand where we are and where we’ve been, but for all of us to take a serious look at the way we are moving toward where we need to go. We need all be open to change, to follow our God and be involved in his mission to the world. Southern Baptists need to be concerned first with being followers of Christ and the later (maybe much later?) with being Southern Baptist.
