August 12, 2002
Rankin letter explains BF&M request,
compares it to averting terrorism
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___RICHMOND, Va.--The request for Southern Baptist Convention missionaries to sign an affirmation of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message diverted an organizational catastrophe, according to International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin.
___In a July 13 letter to missionaries, Rankin compared his request for missionaries to affirm the controversial faith statement with a hypothetical action taken to avoid the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on Washington and New York City.
___Had the government known about the impending tragedy on Sept. 11, Rankin said, officials would have "done what was necessary to deter that tragedy," even if those tactics proved onerous: "The airlines and general public would have been outraged at the delays and inconvenience of heightened security measures. The civil liberties advocates would have probably called for impeachment of President Bush for profiling and detaining people of Middle Eastern descent, and other similar reactions."
"Because of our willingness to affirm doctrinal accountability to the Southern Baptist Convention, the consequences that could have been disastrous for the credibility and support of the IMB have been diverted."
--Jerry Rankin
___While acknowledging this may be an "extreme analogy," Rankin nonetheless draws a clear parallel with his request of missionaries as a measure to prevent a catastrophe.
___"Because of our willingness to affirm doctrinal accountability to the Southern Baptist Convention, the consequences that could have been disastrous for the credibility and support of the IMB have been diverted," Rankin explained to the missionaries.
___"Taking appropriate steps to assure confidence and support on behalf of the SBC has not been without offense and misunderstanding, but this is a responsibility of leadership that I take very seriously," he added. "Rather than the issue being forced into an embarrassing and divisive showdown, or our board of trustees having to reverse their earlier position and impose a policy requirement, I chose to take the initiative administratively and request your collective response."
___This does not mean Rankin lacked confidence in the doctrinal integrity of the missionary force, he wrote. "I would not have taken such action without the confidence that our personnel serving with the IMB represent doctrinal integrity and denominational loyalty."
___Rankin said he shares the concern of IMB missionaries who wonder how anyone could question their doctrinal integrity and was personally "offended and hurt" that such accusations were raised. In earlier correspondence, Rankin indicated he issued the administrative order regarding the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message because some in Southern Baptist life were questioning the integrity of the missionaries, although he did not say who those doubters were.
___Nevertheless, his action should not be seen as bowing to political pressure or reversing position, he declared.
___"Many of you were offended that I had communicated a year earlier that current personnel already under appointment would not have to endorse the revised Baptist Faith & Message, and then apparently reversed that decision, which some assumed to be succumbing to political pressure. In 2001 I had communicated the policy officially adopted by our board. When questions and suspicions began to escalate, the board felt some action needed to be taken, but they did not want to reverse their earlier decision and signal any mistrust in our overseas personnel. ... To deal with the crisis, I offered to secure the needed assurance with a personal request."
___Part of the pressure, Rankin said, resulted from perceptions that the IMB would be the only SBC agency not to require affirmation of the new faith statement.
___"When we became the only entity not to require staff, faculty or missionaries to affirm the current Baptist Faith & Message, questions began to arise regarding our accountability and whether we were 'protecting' those not aligned with the Baptist Faith & Message," he wrote. "When one regional leader refused to sign an affirmation of the Baptist Faith & Message, it increased the speculation that there must be many others as well."
___Professors at all six SBC seminaries are required to sign an affirmation of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message or, in some cases, sign the document itself. Likewise, missionaries with the SBC's North American Mission Board are required to affirm the revised statement.
___However, other SBC agencies have adopted varying degrees of required adherence. At LifeWay Christian Resources, the SBC's publishing house, about 25 percent of the workforce is classified as "Southern Baptist required" and is asked to sign an affirmation that they will conduct their work in accordance with the Baptist Faith & Message. At the Annuity Board, the SBC's insurance and retirement manager, no public notice has been given that any employees are required to sign an affirmation of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, although many key employees are required to be members of "cooperating" Southern Baptist churches.
___Rankin noted in his letter to missionaries that the IMB has granted leeway for some disagreement with the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, although he did not give examples.
___"Aware that some might not fully understand or agree with some of the updated revisions, some allowance has been made for disagreement and expression of alternate interpretations while affirming to our sending and supporting churches that we would work in accord with and not contrary to the confession of faith of our denomination," he wrote.
___The 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, while approved overwhelmingly by messengers to that year's SBC annual meeting, has received mixed reactions in state Baptist conventions. The Baptist General Convention of Texas has been among the loudest critics of the document, claiming it presents a weakened view of local-church autonomy and the priesthood of the believer, relegates women to second-class status in the home and church and places the authority of the Bible over the authority of Jesus. Most importantly, critics have said the document identifies itself as a creed rather than a confession of faith, something they believe to be non-Baptist.
___Some missionaries also have complained that the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message is insensitive to the cultural contexts in which they must work overseas.
___Rankin reported that "most" of the missionaries "welcomed the opportunity" to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message while "some have struggled with the response and been offended as if they, personally, were being questioned."
___Others, he added, "have not had a doctrinal problem with the content of the Baptist Faith & Message, though possibly interpreting scriptural positions a little differently, but have felt the request itself made our confession of faith a creed, especially since the preamble of the new version states that it is 'an instrument of doctrinal accountability.'"
___This should not be a stumbling block, Rankin explained to the missionaries. "Although this is stated for the first time in the 2000 revision, it has always been an instrument of doctrinal accountability. E.Y. Mullins, as chairman of the original Baptist Faith & Message committee in 1925, explained, as a confessional people, 'Baptists have always insisted upon their own right to declare their beliefs and to protect themselves by refusing to support men in important places as teachers and preachers who do not agree with them.'"
___Through this latest process, the IMB has discovered no doctrinal problems among its personnel, Rankin said. "However, it has grieved me that several have been unwilling to acknowledge appropriate accountability to their sending agency and the churches that support them. Rather than responding in the spirit of Matthew 18, some have chosen to criticize leadership of the IMB and SBC and publish disparaging remarks in newsletters and the media."
___He acknowledged that "a few have resigned and others have expressed their intention to do so rather than affirm the Baptist Faith & Message and their willingness to work in accord with it."
___While the process has been personally painful to him, Rankin concluded: "It was done for the benefit of your ministry and our kingdom task. This will enable us to get on with our mission of reaching a lost world with the solid support of Southern Baptists."
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