BGCT unveils new vision for 21st century
___By Marv Knox
___Editor
___Texas Baptists are being challenged to embrace a mission as holy as Christ and as big as the world.
___The Baptist General Convention of Texas' Strategic Planning Committee has proposed a new BGCT mission statement that would declare the convention exists to "assist churches and related ministries to be the presence of Christ in the world."
___The 62-member Strategic Planning Committee showcased the culmination of its yearlong effort in a report to the BGCT Administrative Committee early this month. In addition to the mission statement, the strategy committee has suggested six core values and seven vision statements, which collectively would guide BGCT endeavors through 2004.
___The BGCT Executive Board will consider the mission/values/vision document May 22 in Dallas. If the board approves, the document will be presented for approval to messengers at the BGCT annual session in Dallas this fall.
___"This is one of the most important matters we could address," BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade told the Administrative Committee. "We spent a lot of time trying to find our hearts in this matter.
___"The mission statement itself has the most powerful potential to change Texas that Christians can advance."
___Ellis Orozco, chairman of the strategy committee and pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen, concurred.
___"The mission statement will excite a whole new generation of Texas Baptists," he predicted. "It focuses on being the presence of Christ in a hurting world, not just doing things to be doing them.
___"Of course, we will assist local churches, but we're talking about helping people be the presence of Jesus Christ in their communities. The mission statement cuts to the essence of what we're to be as Christians, and then the doing will follow naturally."
___The strategy committee report proposes six core values that articulate key BGCT beliefs.
___The first is biblical authority. "We value the Bible as our authoritative guide for life and ministry (2 Timothy 3:16-17)," the report says.
___Second is missions and evangelism. "We value missional churches that prepare believers to engage culture and advance the kingdom of God (Acts 1:8)," it adds.
___Prayer and spiritual vitality comprise the third core value. "We value intimacy with God that produces growing, vibrant faith (Matthew 6:5-13; John 15:5,7)," the statement notes.
___Next is inclusion and diversity. "We value being a diverse people and are committed to including all God's family in decision-making and service (Galatians 3:28)," it says.
___Both Wade and Orozco stressed that, despite some uses of the words "diversity" and "inclusion," the statement is not an endorsement of homosexual practice. "We did not mean lifestyle diversity--homosexuality," Orozco said. "We absolutely didn't mean that. We were focusing on cultural, socio-economic, ethnic and gender diversity."
___The worth of all people is the fifth value. "We value all persons as created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27; Matthew 25:31-46)," the report says.
___The final value encompasses Baptist heritage, polity and doctrine. "We value the biblical distinctives that shape Baptist life and history (Isaiah 51:1; 1 Peter 2:9)," it adds.
___Those six core values point toward and support seven vision statements, each with its own set of strategies for implementation, that are to guide the convention for the next three years.
___The proposed BGCT vision aims to:
___ Reach all people by assisting churches and related ministries as they "share the good news in a culturally diverse context."
___Assistance will include helping churches research and identify Texans who have not been reached with the Christian message of salvation, as well as implementing a range of activities that will enable Texas Baptists to spread the gospel across the state and around the world.
___ Start more churches by helping to "plant communities of faith."
___The church-starting efforts will range from the state's inner cities to reaching third- and fourth-generation ethnics, to beginning more churches among African-Americans as well as Anglos in specified locations.
___ Improve church health. Research and development will focus on helping ministers and their families and church members so that their congregations are stronger and more effective.
___ Encourage healthy, Christ-centered families. The BGCT's Hope for Home family-ministry initiative will play a key role in fulfilling this vision, as will conferences, materials and other resources that will focus on "empowering and equipping churches to promote health and growth in their own families."
___ Meet human needs, physically, spiritually and emotionally. This vision calls for churches, associations and BGCT institutions individually and collaboratively to touch Texans at their most needy levels.
___ Equip Texas Baptist laity to develop "growing faith, personal ministry and servant leadership."
___The report calls for fulfilling this vision by utilizing a range of resources, from the Internet to distance learning, to localized theological education, plus an assortment of promotional efforts and designation of one year as the "Year of the Laity" among Texas Baptists.
___ Expand theological education that is "accessible, affordable and culturally relevant."
___This vision calls for strengthening Hispanic Baptist Theological School in San Antonio, plus helping churches to value theological education and providing a variety of options for enabling ministers to obtain training.
___The mission/values/vision document will define Texas Baptists for the coming years, Wade said.
___"Ask yourself, 'If Jesus came to Texas, who would he talk to, who would he care about, where would he go, what would he say?'" he explained. "When that percolates through our churches, it energizes us.
___"This is who Christians are, and we Baptists want to be those kinds of Christians--Christ's presence in the world."
___The focus on the future has the power to carry Texas Baptists beyond the denominational division that has captured much of their attention for the past couple of decades, Orozco said.
___"The vision statements move beyond rhetoric and power struggles to get on with the work of Christ," he noted. "This expansive vision encompasses churches, institutions, mission work, even dialoguing with other denominations as we see programs that are working. We can learn from our brothers and sisters in Christ."
___The report reflects the strategy committee's concerted efforts to grasp the vision of all Texas Baptists, said Phil Strickland, coordinator of the BGCT's Christian ethics and public life section and staff liaison with the committee.
___"The committee made every effort to get broad information from all Texas Baptists, both through meetings in all 15 regions of the state and through a survey that went to all the churches," Strickland said.
___"The committee worked hard and came to a strong consensus on the mission/vision statements that are part of the report," he said, noting those concepts represent the distillation of information the committee gleaned from across the state.
___The committee unanimously adopted the final report, he said.
___The report does not include specific goals. They will come out of the creative process of BGCT staff and Texas Baptist churches working together to fulfill the vision, Orozco said.
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