Cooperative Program and affiliation

Thanks for correcting me. This is good to know.

 

Well if there is no denominational structure within to work it is not actually "denominational" work.

We have a ton of non-denominational work going on that isn't quantifiable because it isn't part of a larger denomination. Just saying it is larger without any actual evidence doesn't work well here.

So we go back to established denominational statistics which are traceable and quantifiable. Here, again, the SBC is the largest representative. Listen if there is good IFB or other independent, non-denon work going on that's awesome, but the conversation here is about things and movements that are traceable.

Well I would disagree that social justice part is part of the action of Great Commission. It is vital to the action of doing the Gospel (but that isn't the point.)

I actually don't know about whether this happens or not. The reality is you can go to the North America Mission Board's stats and find out. The largest, organized force for church planting in the US is the SBC. That is a great thing. Also, international church planting is, again in terms of organized, trackable movements, primarily done the most through the SBC.

The one great thing about the SBC is that at the center of all of its efforts is seeking to further the Gospel. It does it best through the Cooperative Program which is the genius of the denomination. It works because it unifies the churches which make up the SBC and realizes we are stronger together than apart. We pool our resources and, in the end, create one of the greatest forces for missions and church planting in the history of the Church.

 

I think that if we use reason here, we can understand how your position at that church would be untenable based on your position in regard to the Cooperative program. The problem (reading between the lines) was not that you supported missions independent of the CP, but that refused to give at all through the CP. If the church advocates the CP and strongly supports the CP, then a pastor who does not trust it is not going to be a workable match.

I serve in a church that supports many non-CP missions, yet we are also big supporters of the CP. I would dare say a future pastor who felt he could not support the CP would not last long. Any major position within a church that its own pastor cannot support is sure to cause some problems. Some problems are so large that they will tend to send a minister packing. Let us not be naive.

 

The IFB efforts are easily traceable and quantifiable. My board (www.baptistworldmission.org) has 330 missionaries, BMM has 1000 (fr. their website), etc. A 2008 survey of IFBs revealed over 13,700 churches (less than half the SBC) but more foreign missionaries than the IMB. (I can get exact figures if you wish.)

But even without the IFB movement, I believe that Wycliffe is larger than the IMB. The IMB is not the largest board, with "6600 career and short term members" (http://www.wycliffe.org/ContactUs/FrequentlyAskedQuestions.aspx#involved).

Please edify me as to how social justice is part of the Great Commission. I have a good library on missiology and don't remember a single missiologist making this claim.

I do thank God for the efforts of the SBC to reach the world for Christ. My son is working on his dissertation under Dr. David Alan Black at SEBTS. I'm very impressed with SEBTS's dedication to the Great Commission, and how Dr. Black takes frequent trips to minister in various fields, and calls himself a missionary first and Greek prof second.

However, there is a mess on the mission fields of the world due to the IMB's failure to require even something so basic as signing the Faith and Message until fairly recently. In Japan, the Japanese convention's seminary is rife with neo-orthodoxy. The convention is so liberal that I have been told (can't verify) that the Japanese convention broke fellowship with the IMB missionaries over the signing requirement. In our town in Japan, the Japanese pastor of the nearest convention churches preaches against Hell, and for dialogue with homosexuals.