SBC approves evaluation task force recommendations

INDIANAPOLIS (BP)—Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting adopted six recommendations proposed by the Great Commission Resurgence Evaluation Task Force with one amendment.

A recommendation that called for simplifying the Annual Church Profile added another point clarifying the request for a church to provide its total amount of Cooperative Program giving.

One messenger brought forward an amendment regarding two questions on the ACP profile asking churches about screening and training processes for staff and volunteers regarding sexual abuse prevention. The proposed amendment to strike those two questions ultimately was struck down by messengers and thus remained in the recommendation.

“Our task force understood our purpose was to examine all pertinent material regarding the original [Great Commission Resurgence] report and to conduct an analysis of their implementation and impact on our cooperative efforts,” Chairman Jay Adkins told messengers.

‘Good intentions,’ but failure to increase baptisms

In speaking with reporters after the report, Adkins said that “there were some really good intentions” behind the Great Commission Resurgence, and Southern Baptists’ struggles to increase baptisms and other areas is not unique. A postmodern—even post-Christian—world makes that more of a challenge.

“Culturally, there is a natural dip,” he said. “Scripture speaks to these sorts of issues as they relate to the church.”

Stating that the Great Commission Resurgence clearly did not reverse the decline in baptisms, Adkins told messengers, “There is more than enough blame to go around for this continued trend,” even as there are “some very encouraging trends as of late.”

Adkins concluded his report with comments from Woman’s Missionary Union Executive Director-Treasurer Sandy Wisdom-Martin, who called Southern Baptists’ reluctance to engage in personal evangelism “the greatest tragedy of our generation.”

Other members joining Adkins, pastor of First Baptist Church in Westwego, La., were Robin Foster, associational missionary for Trinity Baptist Association in Trumann, Ark.; Adam Groza, president of Gateway Seminary; Luke Holmes, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Duncan, Okla.; Chris Shaffer, chief of staff and associate vice president for Institutional Strategy at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary; and Jeremy Westbrook, executive director for the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio.