Voices: GC2 Pilot Program: What’s in a name?

What’s in a name? When it comes to the 20 churches participating in the GC2 pilot program, apparently quite a bit.

Texas Baptists have been encouraged to ask good questions, remain engaged, and build trust as our convention navigates complex issues and significant changes. So, last week, I asked a rather simple question on Facebook: What are the names of the 20 churches participating in the GC2 pilot program?

Let me say, I appreciate and respect our convention leadership. However, I do not understand the decision or reasons for withholding the names of these churches nor do I agree with it. Leadership has been given an opportunity to build momentum, create buy-in, and establish clarity for other congregations, but has made the choice to not release the names.

Maybe you are asking, Atchley, why does knowing these names matter so much?

They matter because leadership has said these 20 churches, from the different geographic, contextual, and congregational diversity of Texas are intended to help evaluate and refine this initiative before broader convention-wide implementation.

If the number participating and their diversity and representation are important enough to put in print material and cite publicly, shouldn’t Texas Baptists be able to see that representation for themselves?

Two important matters in the names

I believe there are two important things in those names.

First, accountability is in those names.

Texas Baptist churches voluntarily give, participate, and entrust convention leadership with significant responsibility. Accountability matters because all 5,300 churches should be able to understand how consequential decisions are being shaped and who is helping shape them.

Asking for that information is not my attempt to control the process. It is part of our role as responsible stewards in a convention that ultimately belongs to its cooperating churches.

GC2 is not simply an idea being piloted or a research project. Recent decisions reveal this truth. Leadership has reorganized the staff and structure around this strategy.

Amid organizational restructuring and financial “rightsizing,” we learned 26 staff positions were eliminated. These decisions have affected 26 good people who faithfully served Texas Baptists. Plus, the proposed 2027 budget we are being asked to approve reflects this new structure and strategy.

Second, trust is in those names.

The Baptist Standard editor recently wrote an editorial about the need for messengers to be informed. I completely agree.

The call to be informed involves trust, however. Trust grows when people are given enough information to understand a process, rather than simply being asked to accept assurances about it.

We must remember Baptist cooperation is voluntary. Churches do not cooperate because they are compelled to or because they always have. They cooperate because they believe in a shared mission and trust those who’ve been entrusted to lead it. That makes trust one of our most valuable currencies.

And trust is strengthened when information is shared freely, questions receive clear answers, and people can see for themselves how decisions are being made. Trust cannot mean asking fewer questions, and cooperation should not mean accepting every assertion without examination.

Why I keep asking

This is why a seemingly simple question matters to me. This is why I keep asking. Because if we lose accountability and trust, we lose more than Cooperative Program dollars and churches. We lose credibility.

So, if 20 churches are helping inform a strategy significant enough to reshape the structure, staffing, and priorities of our convention, Texas Baptists should know the names of those helping shape it.

What’s in a name? Or in this case, names?

Two things: accountability and trust.

In a voluntary Baptist convention, those are not small things. They are two things not worth sacrificing for anonymity.

Jason Atchley is senior pastor of Hunters Glen Baptist Church in Plano and was second vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas in 2018 and 2019. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.