CBF seeks to model deliberative dialogue and unity through cooperation

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Suzii Paynter introduced the "illumination project" to the group's governing board. (CBF Photo)

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GREENSBORO, N.C.—In a divisive national climate, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship will seek to model unity through cooperation and deliberative dialogue, CBF Executive Coordinator Suzii Paynter told the group’s governing board.

The initiative—called the “illumination project”—aims to shed light on qualities that have built unity in CBF and, through discernment, will identify intentional processes by which the Fellowship can maintain and grow through cooperation, Paynter explained.

The governing board authorized incoming CBF Moderator Doug Dortch to appoint an ad hoc committee by the end of August to begin implementing the project.

Create models for dialogue and decision-making

“We are introducing a process not for a single problem and not for one single moment,” Paynter said. It is designed to “provide more light, less heat” in situations where the CBF finds itself in conflict or has differences of opinion, she noted.

“The illumination project is designed to create models of dialogue and decision-making for a cooperative body,” Paynter said. “The goal, often sacrificially enabled, to seek intentional community in spite of differences has been a strong witness of CBF.

“We believe that our commitment to Scripture, reliance on foundational faith tenets and the lessons from our history can be used to enable new clarity regarding the process of cooperative Christian community for the Fellowship.”

Listen to varied voices

The first commitment in the process is to listen to voices of the Fellowship, she explained. Conversation about difficult subjects has been a strategy in the CBF, with dozens of conference calls in recent months with groups of Cooperative Baptists around cultural challenges—from North Carolina’s law regarding the use of bathrooms in public buildings, to “religious freedom” legislation, to LGBTQ concerns, she noted.


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“Purposeful conversations extend to a wide array of sectors and employ a variety of voices across the Fellowship,” Paynter said. “Sometimes, those voices are voices of affinity, and sometimes, they are voices of diversity.

“We will establish a purposeful dialogue process and will use foundational principles and operational practices under the Lordship of Christ. There is no process or project like this. We actually have to use the process of facilitation to be consistent in the manner in which we’d like to speak.”

In approaching illumination, the Fellowship will consider stakeholders while also acknowledging the representative values from the wide variety of churches and global partners who relate to the Fellowship, Paynter said.

“Because CBF is a network of churches and individuals that is pervasively religious, explicitly Christian, explicitly Baptist, globally active and a mission-sending agency, the Fellowship must name the expectations and benchmarks of unity and participation within those bounds of identity,” she said.

Respect each congregation as it lives out its calling

“Like the people that compose them, each individual CBF congregation has its own DNA. It is an expectation that a congregation within the life of CBF be respected for its approach to living out its calling, be appreciated for its witness to the world for Christ and be granted safety in the knowledge that differences of opinion do not detract from our ability to form together.”

CBF expresses unity that is cooperative but not necessarily united, Paynter explained.

“Our unity exists because we have agreed not to agree on everything, but to cooperate instead,” she said.

Emphasis on autonomy and freedom

Historically, she added, the CBF has achieved unity through cooperation adhering to the Baptist principle of autonomy of the local congregation. For CBF, unity is found through focus on the four fragile freedoms—Bible freedom, soul freedom, church freedom and religious freedom; networks of relationships of individuals, congregations and global partners; governance structures which differ from traditional conventions and denominations; and robust global and domestic missions.

“Our cooperation among our Fellowship is very unique. We should not take this for granted, as traditional denominations have been embroiled one after another in the wake of shifts that I mentioned,” Paynter said. “Implementing the illumination project will yield a process for more light toward the seemingly intractable issues facing CBF, the local church, global missions and partnerships here and around the world.”

The illumination project will explore the foundational and operational principles that can guide the Fellowship as a unified body under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Paynter said, with the aim to claim the role and purpose of CBF and explore both the opportunities and limitations of that role.

Important aspects of the process include listening to voices not only from within the Fellowship, which can be the consensus voice of an entire congregation, but also individual voices, dissenting voices, minority voices and global voices, she explained. This will also include structuring messages and voices on behalf of the Fellowship, where matters of cooperative mission and ministry require response. This includes public communication, press releases, pastoral addresses and other official CBF messages.

Controversial issues can divide church groups

“Controversial issues continue to painfully divide the church, in part because we lack an intentional practice of deliberative dialogue,” Paynter said. “Whatever conversations and processes have carried us to a certain time, there is a need to reconvene with intent as new points of stress present themselves.”

Paynter highlighted recent events that have shaped the current cultural context, including North Carolina’s bathroom law, a new Mississippi law that allows businesses to refuse to serve to gay couples out of a religious objection as well as a similar law that was vetoed in Georgia, the worst mass shooting in American history at a gay nightclub in Orlando, the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling requiring all states to license same-sex marriage, and a concern in Texas that pastors would be forced to perform same-sex weddings despite their conscientious objection.

“In a nation of such dizzying religious and cultural diversity as the United States, clashes occur,” Paynter said. “As a denomi-network, CBF is manifesting that tension in recent discussion about the Fellowship’s hiring policy,” which bars people in homosexual relationships from employment.

“Can CBF be a big tent with a cooperative culture?” she asked. “Surely, we cannot unless we are going to be intentional, prayerful and grounded and put our faith at center, and unless we are going to be grounded in something bigger than the problem at the moment.”

Other articles about the 2016 CBF general assembly:

Donors pledge $8.5 million as CBF launches $12 million endowment campaign

Soul freedom is a God-breathed gift to all humankind, BJC’s Walker tells Cooperative Baptists

CBF commissions largest and most diverse group of church starters to date

Confront all forms of oppression and embrace the full gospel, New Baptist Covenant speakers urge

Hearing and preaching the gospel is hard work, noted preacher tells Cooperative Baptists

Bass celebrates CBF’s 25th anniversary, expresses gratefulness for giftedness of Cooperative Baptists

Cooperation and ethic of love are keys to CBF’s future, incoming CBF Moderator says


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