“Return to Me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.”Malachi 3:7b
I just returned from the 2010 Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando, Florida.We went as messengers on behalf of the churches of Macon Baptist Association.This year 11,020 messengers from all over North America came together in Christ name for worship, business, and vision-casting for the future of SBC churches.
The buzz word at the Convention this year was change.Last year at the annual SBC meeting, a Great Commission Task Force was appointed for the purpose of finding ways for Southern Baptists to “work more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission.”The messengers to this year’s convention voted by an estimated 3-1 majority to affirm recommendations of a 23-member Great Commission Task Force appointed last year by SBC president Johnny Hunt.
Here is a summary of task force recommendations:
·Establishing a new revenue category -- dubbed "Great Commission Giving" -- that celebrates both funds given by churches through the SBC's Cooperative Program unified budget & designated gifts to specific Southern Baptist causes.
·Phasing out cooperative agreements between Baptist state conventions and the North American Mission Board to give NAMB a higher profile in church-planting efforts nationwide.
·Revising the ministry assignment of the International Mission Board to allow missionaries specializing in certain people groups to minister to members of those groups living in North America as well as those overseas.
·Transferring assignments of stewardship and Cooperative Program promotion from the SBC Executive Committee to the state conventions.
·Increasing the IMB’s CP allocation from 50 percent to 51 percent, while reducing the Executive Committee’s allocation by 1 percent -- equivalent to about 30 percent of the Executive Committee budget. The increase for the IMB, meanwhile, would represent a relatively minuscule portion of that agency's budget.
So what does this mean for us on a local church level?Honestly, only the future will tell.For me personally, I know that God’s character and eternal purposes do not change.As God’s children, this truth gives us a solid foundation for faith and hope.However, unchangeableness in character does not mean that the Lord is unchanging in His actions.If we return to Him, He will return to us!This shows that God acts differently in response to different situations.This is God’s mission and we are to fit into His story!
