The Southern Baptist Convention is undergoing a seismic shift
The Southern Baptist Convention is not just changing; it has changed. Many will consider it a blessed conversion. Others will feel disenfranchised, marginalized, and excluded. This convention confirmed that my decision to retire at the end of this year is well-founded, because I feel like a voice crying in the wilderness.
Southern Baptists were all about evangelism and missions for many years, but in the last decade it seems that we have changed our focus; and the decline in baptisms at home and abroad have been precipitous.
Chuck Kelley, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, has explained, “The true bad news is that when you put last year in the context of all previous years, it indicates the SBC is in the midst of a decline that shows no sign of either slowing down or turning around.”
The new emphases subtly infiltrating Southern Baptist life seems to be social justice, the...