Featured Promoting the SBC

Yes!

Heck yes!

That's a shame, and it's why the SBC is a million things to a million people. It's so inconsistent, it can't be defined. (I say that as a fan of the SBC). Some hierarchical structure is a good thing.

In the casting off all things Rome, the baby got thrown out with the bathwater on more than one occasion.

 

The SBC is not a denomination it is a cooperative. If a church is going to fund mission by being part of the SBC they should also be a part of conventions and meetings. To do otherwise is irresponsible and lazy.

 

The convention came first not the cooperative programed giving.

One can be a thriving member of the SBC and not give a dime in support of the cooperative program.

The early church had no cooperative program that allied churches together, but each gave as they deemed appropriate, and some sent support back to the founding church in Jerusalem.

 

First there is a, minimum of 250 that must be given. Second we are not a denomination, we are a cooperative.

 

I agree.

None.

The convention is to serve the local assembly, not the other way around.

Why?

It is a waste of money and time.

If at the local level, pastors desire to support each other, that is good.

If at the local level, cooperating churches support each other in a program, that is good.

But, there is no need for the local assembly to become enamored with the bureaucratic impulses of the national and state levels.

Back in the day, the greater amount of delegates to the convention(s) were there for show and tell, wanting to hobnob with who they considered important.

I doubt that there is much different in this time.

 

The $250 dollar thing is no longer true. The SBC Constitution was amended recently, and now each church can send two messengers for any amount contributed to the Cooperative Program, Executive Committee, or Entities. A third, fourth, fifth, etc. messenger can be sent to the Convention for every $6,000 contribution or full percent of the church's undesignated receipts sent through those three channels, up to a maximum of a dozen messengers per church.

Southern Baptist Convention > Constitution

 

The name at the national level is Southern Baptist Convention.

The name at the state level is Southern Baptist Convention of (state).

The name of the local level is often a name of a region, such as North >>> Association of Southern Baptists.

But not any of the organization is not a cooperative, with the exception of local groupings who cooperate together for a unified goal.

Perhaps you are misled in the thinking that distinguishes conventions from cooperatives.

In a convention, the stake holders (individual assemblies) actually have no ownership authority such as cooperatives do.

Typically, conventions are executive committee controlled with obligatory reporting to a "board" which has no ability to change or modify the executive committee direction other then by advisement and member replacement. No contributing member has authority over that board nor over the executive committee.

Cooperatives have each member a stakeholder owner and in some manner authority in the operation and decision making. Cooperatives are like confederations, in which each member has authority and can directly move to change the rules to live. Depending on the establishment they may be ruled by majority or a percentage of the whole (like the U. S. House operates).

An example is to look at the typical political setup. No state has power or authority over the convention (either democrat or republican) but send delegates who may appeal to the various committees to change, or they may have an uprising in which the convention business must conform.

Back in the day, the "cooperative" thinking was really being pushed, because the programed approach to giving was a significant driving force in the influence of the convention, and some desired to change the direction (either for the good or the worse depending on the viewpoint).

However, the convention was not then, nor formed as, nor held to this day as a cooperative.

 

The there is no hierarchy.

I was a member of an SBC which had some infighting, and Mark Dever had to fly in to help resolve it. He didn't resolve it, BTW, but he did attempt to act as a pope. Had the SBC had some way of dealing with this, as the PCA does, there might have been a resolution which would have prevented one of the best preachers in the SBC to leave the church, which quickly went back to the liberals.

 

Have you ever heard of "CP" giving? Go to erlc.com and look up the article "5 facts about cooperative program.

 

State and local associations still enforce it

 

Again,

The convention existed prior to the cooperative program

The convention does not exist because of the CP, rather the opposite.

 

Again the southern baptist convention is a cooperative. Always has been always will be.

 

The SBC was FIRST!

It was formed so that a cooperative programed approach could be taken to the mission emphasis.

The cooperative program RESULTED in the formation of the SBC.

The cooperative program did not form the SBC.

The Convention was NEVER a coop.

Such thinking was supposedly refuted back in the 60's.

But apparently someone has been misinformed.

Coops are OWNED by the individual members, who express direct CONTROL over the coop.

Conventions are NOT controlled nor owned by the individual member (groups), but invest control into executive committees who report back annually to the convention giving broad scope reports and at rare times more detailed analysis.

The Convention may ONLY influence the committees by suggesting and recommending, and at times may remove a committee member. But the convention members do not control the SBC - they have no right to ownership in contrast to coops.

The members of the SBC may cooperate together for any emphasis of their own choosing, but such takes place outside of the executive committee authority to regulate.

The executive committee make all legal and financial decisions related to the SBC.

 

Go to erlc.com and look up the article "5 facts about cooperative program.

 

I fell out with the SBC when they rewarded the bad behavior of the race pimps at the last convention,

 

...member, this is merica....