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Pastor Matt
Pastor Matt

Some Southern Baptist leaders are dropping ‘Southern’ due to history of slavery



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Leaders among the Southern Baptist Convention are increasingly discussing dropping the “Southern” part of their name due to a reminder of the convention’s historic role in slavery.

As of 2019 there were over 45,000 churches that identify as Southern Baptist. Among those 45,000 there is an estimated 14,525,579 members.

The churches in the convention are autonomous, so some could and will still use the Southern name. 

According to the Southern Baptist Convention’s president J.D. Greear, the remaining effort is pushing the rename  to “Great Commission Baptists" due to what is called, “the racial reckoning underway in the United States.”

The name change is also because some see the name “Southern Baptist” as too regional for the group which exists around the globe.

Greear also mentioned:  “Our Lord Jesus was not a White Southerner but a brown-skinned Middle Eastern refugee, every week we gather to worship a savior who died for the whole world, not one part of it. What we call ourselves should make that clear.”

Hundreds of SBC church leaders in the Southern states have committed to using the name “Great Commission Baptists” and Greear also mentioned that the theme for next years Southern Baptist Convention will be “We are Great Commission Baptists.”




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Quote: “We are Great Commission Baptists.”

Right; anything but Independent Baptist!

There simply is no biblical justification for The Southern Baptist Convention, or any other form of association. The biblical example for a New testament Church is, Independent, Local, Visible, Autonomous.

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2 hours ago, SureWord said:

They will probably lose a lot of members over this. 

I doubt it, their members are weak doctrinally, or else they would not be a part of any convention. They will follow the piper as they always have.

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11 hours ago, Jim_Alaska said:

I doubt it, their members are weak doctrinally, or else they would not be a part of any convention. They will follow the piper as they always have.

I've been to a Southern Baptist church one time and it was a carnal mess. The singing droned on for what it seemed like two hours of contemporary music singing the same chorus over and over until you fell into a trance. Then the "lesson" from a milquetoast version of the word of God. I can't remember which but I couldn't follow along. I'm sure there are plenty of good Christians who lov God and live good lives (I liked the pastor) in that church but for me personally, I'm wretched and hard so I need some old time religion.

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You guys should see the NZ baptist church teachings.

Mainly charismatic or Pentecostal, often teach eternal salvation is undoable, most often the sermons are topical rather than scriptural. 

There is a big congregation in a church in my city that used to be Spreydon Baptist church, we called them 'Sprayed on' baptist church.

They may as well just be vineyard or new life churches, there isn't much distinctively Baptist about them

 

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20 hours ago, 360watt said:

You guys should see the NZ baptist church teachings.

Mainly charismatic or Pentecostal, often teach eternal salvation is undoable, most often the sermons are topical rather than scriptural. 

There is a big congregation in a church in my city that used to be Spreydon Baptist church, we called them 'Sprayed on' baptist church.

They may as well just be vineyard or new life churches, there isn't much distinctively Baptist about them

 

I once visited a Charismatic Baptist church here in America. One of the most bizarre experiences ever. Especially seeing teenagers making out in the pews during the "contemporary worship music" i.e. rock concert.

Looks like they went through with it. Apparently, the word "Southern" is associated with slavery. The country has gone mad.

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  Dropping "Southern" is silly. "Southern" still means something from the South, & South is still a direction on a compass.

   We cannot undo what our ancestors who are no longer alive did in the past to other people who are no longer alive. Legal slavery in the USA has been gone for 8 to 10 generations. The idea of "reparations" for what happened 160 years ago is simply another New-Age-Liberal goofy idea.

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Where I live the large majority of folk see the words 'Southern Baptist' and they think intolerant, bigoted and racist. Just the work Baptist is a negative. We have struggled with this for years and have considered dropping the word 'Baptist' from our church title. We haven't and I doubt we will. There are some Baptist churches who have given us a hard time as we are very diverse racially. We welcome all as we believe all need Christ. 

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People will be people and some very bigoted. That is not reason to drop the name Baptist. Regardless of what some people may think, the name Baptist is a description of a form of doctrine as well as a hard statement of a church's Polity. Baptists have always been defined by their doctrine, history proves this to be true.

Many that have gone before us willingly gave their lives rather than compromise what they believed, or change their doctrinal stance. I, for one, would never discount their blood and abandon the doctrinal stand they gave their all for.

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17 hours ago, Jim_Alaska said:

People will be people and some very bigoted. That is not reason to drop the name Baptist. Regardless of what some people may think, the name Baptist is a description of a form of doctrine as well as a hard statement of a church's Polity. Baptists have always been defined by their doctrine, history proves this to be true.

Many that have gone before us willingly gave their lives rather than compromise what they believed, or change their doctrinal stance. I, for one, would never discount their blood and abandon the doctrinal stand they gave their all for.

Agreed. I have, in the past, considered dropping the "IFB" label, because there are an awful lot of awful IFB's out there. However, there are an awful lot of awful people who claim the title "Christian", but it is a worthy title, so, in consideration, I maintain the title of IFB because I hold to what IFB actually means, and my church is not defined by the harm some do to the name, because of their bad behavior. 

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Though I'm not on board with what many of the organizations that the SBC supports, especially right now while there is a case before the Supreme Court (our NAMB and the ERLC) I would have to say that I still support the Southern Baptists. They are still autonomous churches and can support whomever they wish inside the cooperative programs. I don't agree with the possible name change to "The Great Commission Baptists" as it's not advantageous for many of the preachers who were raised in the SBC and who  believe that the name should stay. Personally, I've NEVER considered the SBC racist in any way, shape, or form. Many of the churches in the SBC have a racially diverse background and attendance record. I know of many IFB churches who are less active in missions, who don't follow Scriptural guidelines and who have promoted people to "god-like" status, and that is one reason we left them. There are also other issues in both the IFB and the SBC that have made it hard to fully represent the Lord to people. Many things, especially sexual immorality, absconding with church funds, and many other things have made it hard on churches of both sects of Baptist throughout the years. I don't believe I need name any. I have nothing against the IFB churches. I know they're all different and autonomous, as are the SBC churches. But having been raised one, and having seen how they handled many situations made my skin crawl. The same has now started to permeate into the SBC community. Now there's the introduction of the "gay marriage" situation, and many other things such as the CRT. These are things that could well tear the SBC apart, and are tearing many IFB churches apart as well.

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