Rankin discusses private prayer language

Posted: 3/03/06

Rankin discusses private prayer language

By Trennis Henderson

Kentucky Western Recorder

BANFF, Alberta (ABP)—Acknowledging he has practiced a private prayer language for more than 30 years, Jerry Rankin candidly shared his views about the Southern Baptist International Mission Board trustees’ recent action on the issue.

Rankin, president of the mission board since 1993, addressed the topic during a question-and-answer session with Baptist editors meeting in Banff, Alberta, Canada, for the 2006 Association of State Baptist Papers annual meeting.

“I do have a private prayer language,” Rankin told the editors. However, “I don’t consider myself to have a gift of tongues. I’ve never been led to practice glossolalia publicly.

“I’ve never viewed personally my intimacy with the Lord and the way his Spirit guides me in prayer time as being the same as glossolalia,” he added. “I just want God to have freedom to do everything that he wants to do in my life, and I’m going to be obedient to that.”

The issue of a private prayer language, generally considered a form of glossolalia or speaking in tongues, came to a head in November when IMB trustees adopted a policy banning the future appointment of missionaries who practice a private prayer language. The mission board’s policy already excludes people who speak in tongues in public worship from serving as missionaries.

Although the new policy specifies it is not retroactive, some trustees expressed concern that the action is a slap at Rankin’s leadership. He confirmed prior to his 1993 election that his private prayer life included occasional experiences of “praying in the Spirit.”

Detailing his personal views on the issue, Rankin said, “I’m certainly not a cessationist”—someone who believes certain spiritual gifts recorded in Scripture, such as speaking in tongues, no longer function.

“I believe … as long as the Holy Spirit is operable in our lives and in the church and in the world, what the Bible tells about the work and functioning of the Holy Spirit is applicable,” he noted. “Now that may change historically, but I certainly don’t think we have the latitude to just disregard it.

“I just don’t see how you can be an inerrantist and be a cessationist,” Rankin said. But he acknowledged others hold the view that someone can’t be an inerrantist without being a cessationist.

Insisting that “I don’t consider myself a charismatic,” Rankin said his private prayer language remains just that—private. “No one’s ever heard me pray in anything other than English, so I think it is still very private and it will remain so,” he said, “but it’s nothing to deny.”

Rankin insisted he has been “very open with the board” about his personal prayer life. “I don’t advocate it. I don’t see it as normal or that I should propose that anyone ought to pray in tongues. It’s just what God has chosen to do in my life.”