Voices: GC2: The Great Commandment, the Great Commission and the Great Confusion

Heading into the 2025 Texas Baptist annual convention, it is time we have an honest conversation about GC2.

There is considerable confusion among Texas Baptists regarding the campaign that began in 2019, titled The Great Commandment and the Great Commission (GC2).

Who can’t get behind being about the Great Commandment and Great Commission? The Great Commandment and Great Commission should be what all churches are about and what I thought the Baptist General Convention of Texas already was doing.

GC2 now has a brand, a press, a national network, international partnerships and has created a statement of faith. In my opinion, it looks like the BGCT executive director and board are positioning the GC2 to be a competing convention with the Southern Baptist Convention as more evangelically inclusive than doctrinally driven.

Granted, that is a leap on my part, but the problem is there is so much confusion around the GC2 and getting someone to explain it is like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall.

It seems like what I have witnessed the last few years is the Great Conflation and Great Circumvention as the Texas Baptist leadership conflates the things the convention already was doing as something new, and it would seem is methodically circumventing what could be the will of the messengers that are more closely tied to the SBC. Let me explain.

The Statement of Faith

GC2’s statement of faith surfaced in September 2021 when the Executive Board approved an initial version as a collaboration guide, not a replacement. In November 2021, messengers approved a motion to add a reference to Christ’s ascension.

In May 2022, the board reapproved the statement, amended the gender clause, and moved to present it to messengers that fall. A background document for that recommendation suggested it could be used to vet candidates for BGCT committees or scholarships. David Hardage, former executive director of the BGCT, later acknowledged that it was a misstep and called for a pause.

Despite pauses, the statement disappeared from GC2’s site and reappeared on BGCT’s “Beliefs” page as convention doctrine. Today, the BGCT Beliefs page lists the 1963 BF&M as adopted by messengers and notes the GC2 Summary of Faith as approved by the Executive Board, not by messengers.

It is my understanding that the BGCT exists to carry out the will of the messengers. If the BGCT exists to carry out the will of the churches through their messengers, shouldn’t the messengers decide whether any statement of faith speaks for all of us? There was no formal announcement, no floor debate and no vote by the messengers. The statement of faith has been approved only by the Executive Board per the BGCT website.

The Great Expansion

GC2 began inviting churches from outside Texas to affiliate. Instead of partnering through their state conventions—partnering within their state convention would be natural—these congregations now align with GC2. Perhaps they couldn’t find a theological home in their states? If Texas Baptists knew their positions, would we want to fund their ministries?

This confusion extends to finances. Many assume that every Cooperative Program dollar is divided between Texas ministries (79 percent) and the SBC (21 percent), as voted on by the messengers in 2008.

In reality, the Texas Adopted Plan sends 79 percent of receipts to BGCT missions and just 21 percent to “worldwide missions.” The BGCT’s beliefs page explains that each church decides where that 21 percent goes. It may be directed to the SBC or BGCT worldwide efforts.

For years, I’d heard BGCT representatives say, “21 percent goes to the SBC,” no caveats. When did messengers approve this arrangement? Who exactly are our worldwide partners?

With GC2 now courting out‑of‑state churches and controlling the 21 percent that used to go to SBC causes, it’s hard not to wonder whether this Great Expansion is really a Great Circumvention.

It may be a pathway to steer resources away from SBC and Cooperative Program structures toward causes many Texas Baptists have never approved. I don’t know that for certain, but the lack of clarity makes it feel less like the Great Commission and more like the Great Confusion.

GC2 strong and a larger scope

The GC2 Strong vision is about building a network without borders … and definitions. Add its own distinct staff, publishing, planting and global mission partnerships outside the SBC structure and you have something bigger than a program. Leaders may call it complementary, but the scale suggests circumvention. 

Polity and process

In Baptist life, the churches send messengers, the messengers set the direction, and the Executive Board carries it out. Boards do not have the mandate to redefine scope or reshape identity on their own. If GC2 is simply a ministry focus, fine. If it is starting to function like a parallel convention with its own partnerships, reach and doctrinal identity, then it belongs in front of the messengers.

Questions that remain

1. Why is GC2 branded separately when its mission is identical to the core work of Texas Baptists?
2. Why was its statement of faith moved into BGCT’s beliefs by the Executive Board without a public vote?
3. Is GC2 meant to supplement the SBC, replace part of it or build a separate network?
4. Does the Executive Board have the authority to set this kind of course without messenger approval?
5. Has GC2’s expansion been presented to messengers for approval of its scope and partnerships?

Great Clarity

This is not opposition to the Great Commandment or the Great Commission; it is about clarity. If GC2 is the future of Texas Baptists, we should say so out loud. Otherwise, you are circumventing the very churches you are meant to represent.

Just pushing ahead leaves the convention in Great Confusion, even if the purpose isn’t the Great Circumvention. Let us agree together on its purpose, scope and partnerships, and do it in the open. That is the Baptist way.

Kody Alvarez is the senior pastor of Oak Grove Baptist Church in China Spring. Oak Grove Baptist Church is a BGCT-affiliated church. The views expressed in this editorial are the responsibility of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the Baptist Standard.