June 3, 2002
'Overwhelming majority' will sign BF&M affirmation
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___The "overwhelming majority" of International Mission Board missionaries will affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message as requested, IMB Vice President Avery Willis told agency trustees May 22.
___To date, 10 missionaries who have resigned specifically cited concern with the mandate to sign an affirmation of the SBC's faith statement as a reason, Willis told the trustees. Eight of those resignations were processed at the May trustee meeting among a total of 55 resignations.
___According to a news report by an IMB staff writer, Willis gave no statistics on overall progress toward getting missionary signatures affirming the Baptist Faith & Message. IMB regional leaders reportedly still are collecting responses and "dialoging" with missionaries who have questions.
___IMB President Jerry Rankin in January asked missionaries to sign a two-part statement that says they agree with the content of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message and agree to work "in accordance with" the teachings of the document.
___The 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, which was drafted by a 15-member committee, has not been universally accepted among Southern Baptists. The Baptist General Convention of Texas, for example, has rejected the new version and continues to endorse the 1963 Baptist Faith & Message.
___Critics of the new statement cite a number of concerns, primarily related to the document's language on Scripture and the role Christ's witness plays in interpreting Scripture, as well as the document's description of itself as an "instrument of doctrinal accountability." That language, critics argue, makes the Baptist Faith & Message a creed rather than a voluntary statement of faith.
___While the IMB reports only 10 resignations over the administrative mandate, a missionary transition task force established by the Baptist General Convention of Texas reports it has heard from 69 IMB missionary units, meaning either a couple or a single adult.
___As of June, the BGCT transition fund is assisting three missionary couples who have left the IMB over the new doctrinal requirement, according to Don Sewell, chairman of the BGCT's task force.
___Determining how many missionaries may resign or take early retirement rather than sign the affirmation is not a clear-cut proposition. By the account of numerous missionaries, not all who object to the faith statement will publicly cite that as a reason for their resignations or early retirements.
___In some cases, missionaries have explained, their colleagues may resign or retire for a mixture of reasons, including concern about the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message. In other cases, missionaries are reportedly delaying making a decision at all, hoping to buy time to finish current projects or get children through school.
___Although complete statistics were not immediately available for analysis, the number of missionaries resigning from the IMB appears to be up nearly 20 percent this year over the same period two years ago. Missionary resignations routinely are reported in the IMB magazine The Commission.
___According to those published reports from the January through June issues of 2002, 136 missionaries have resigned, excluding those who resigned to assume administrative positions in Richmond. That compares to 114 resignations reported in the same six-month period for 2000. Complete data was not reported in 2001 issues of The Commission.
___IMB administrators in Richmond, Va., have set no deadline for missionaries to sign the affirmation, although some area leaders earlier announced deadlines in their regions.
___Missionaries in East Asia who have not signed the required document received a letter in mid-May from their regional leader, Bill Fudge, admonishing them to sign as a matter of accountability.
___Fudge compared Rankin's requirement of missionaries to that of the Jerusalem Council in the first century, which he said "called for its workers to give an account on pertinent doctrinal issues of the day." The Jerusalem Council was convened to settle the question of whether Gentiles had to become Jews before they could become Christians.
___"If you are not able to be accountable to the IMB, I think you need to understand that you are out of step with and in a position contrary to the nature and ministry of this board, the East Asia region, our ethos and those who elect and send trustees who are charged with the oversight of this worldwide ministry," Fudge explained.
___"This whole issue is related to accountability," he continued. "To this point, you have said resoundingly that you are not willing to affirm and reaffirm your accountability in established areas of concern. You have appealed to your previous doctrinal statements, current ministry, etc., but you have refused to reaffirm ... your ministry in areas of concern."
___Fudge then stated: "When a person continues to say he is not willing to affirm or reaffirm that he will be accountable in these areas, it highlights to me that that person even more needs to be held accountable. ... I love you, and out of concern for you, I continue to pray for you and look for a way to facilitate your accountability in these areas of concern."
___However, he warned, "refusal (to be) accountable to our supporting agency ... is not acceptable."
___Fudge concludes his letter to the non-signers by giving them the option of writing out in detail their own statement of beliefs "on each topic covered in the Baptist Faith & Message and also sign a ministry accountability statement saying that you are willing to be held accountable to the IMB and Southern Baptists in your ministry related to these doctrines to which you subscribe."
___Meanwhile, the IMB continues to appoint new missionaries in large numbers. In the same week the IMB honored 60 retiring missionaries, it appointed 67 new workers for overseas service.
___The IMB reports 5,284 overseas workers, including both long-term career appointees and various shorter-term workers and volunteers.
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