Southern Baptist Convention Considers Name Change Again

[Ahimsa]

Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) president Bryant Wright announced September 19 that a presidential task force would study the prospect and potential ramifications of changing the 166-year-old denomination’s name. Wright said the decision came after hearing numerous reports about the difficulties associated with having a regional name.

“Starting a church in New York, or Boston, or Minneapolis, or Cheyenne, Wyoming, it’s really a barrier to a lot of folks in even considering that church or that ministry,” Wright said. “When they hear Southern Baptist, it’s a regional perception there. The reason this task force has been set up to study a possible name change is [firstly] to consider a name that is not so geographically limiting, and secondly to help us be better prepared for reaching North America for Christ in the 21st century.”

A 2006 poll by the Center for Missional Research found that while Southern Baptists were favored overall by the majority of adults polled, 1 in 4 said that knowing a church was affiliated with the SBC would have a negative impact on their decision to visit or join a church.

Hey, it worked for Rick Warren.

 

[ESMDHokie77]

who is rick warren?

 

[Ahimsa]

who is rick warren?

Pastor of this church.

 

[ESMDHokie77]

I always get a kick out of reading the “what we believe” lists on evangelical church websites, they’re all so incomplete.

Back on topic, it would seem that the SBC is finding that having such a regional name doesn’t let them truly be a “universal church”…

 

[GaryTaylor]

I always get a kick out of reading the “what we believe” lists.

Me too,

 

[Anna_Scott]

Hey, it worked for Rick Warren.

Ahimsa,

I’m a former Southern Baptist. The article you cited did touch on a serious issue regarding the history of the Southern Baptist Church:
(emphasis is mine)

"Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford, said the issue reflects the SBC’s changing role in American Christianity. “We began really out of the depths of the Civil War; the ‘southern’ part of our name spoke about our history, our past,” George said. “I think the SBC is increasingly less and less southern in the old cultural sense. … [In] respect to the prominence that we give now to church planting and world evangelization, ‘southern’ is probably a name that has outlived its usefulness.” Link: christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/septemberweb-only/southern-baptist-name-change.html

The SBC was indeed born out of the Civil War----due to a pro slavery position and, eventually, ties to the KKK. This is a difficult history to escape, and the name Southern Baptist is inescapably tied to this dark side of the past. Many Southern Baptists are unaware of their own history. I was one of them.

The SBC issued two very important resolutions regarding their past:

**Resolution On Racial Reconciliation On The 150th Anniversary Of The Southern Baptist Convention, June 1995. ** Link: sbc.net/resolutions/amResolution.asp?ID=899

Resolution On Ku Klux Klan, June 1982. link: sbc.net/resolutions/amResolution.asp?ID=894

So, there are good reasons for a name change.

Many non-Denominational Churches hold Baptist beliefs; but have broken with the Southern Baptist Convention—and abandoned the Southern Baptist name.

Peace,
Anna

 

[jam070406]

Ahimsa,

I’m a former Southern Baptist. The article you cited did touch on a serious issue regarding the history of the Southern Baptist Church:
(emphasis is mine)

The SBC was indeed born out of the Civil War----due to a pro slavery position and, eventually, ties to the KKK. This is a difficult history to escape, and the name Southern Baptist is inescapably tied to this dark side of the past. Many Southern Baptists are unaware of their own history. I was one of them.

The SBC issued two very important resolutions regarding their past:

**Resolution On Racial Reconciliation On The 150th Anniversary Of The Southern Baptist Convention, June 1995. ** Link: sbc.net/resolutions/amResolution.asp?ID=899

Resolution On Ku Klux Klan, June 1982. link: sbc.net/resolutions/amResolution.asp?ID=894

So, there are good reasons for a name change.

Many non-Denominational Churches hold Baptist beliefs; but have broken with the Southern Baptist Convention—and abandoned the Southern Baptist name.

Peace,
Anna

Fascinating, thanks for that info.

 

[Anna_Scott]

Fascinating, thanks for that info.

No problem.

Anna

Edited to add P.S. I’m sure Southern Baptists will cringe after reading that post----Just as I cringe every time someone brings up King Henry and the Anglican Church.

 

[Matthew_Holford]

Just as I cringe every time someone brings up King Henry and the Anglican Church.

I’d be interested to know why his name makes you cringe. I’m interested in Tudor history and the misconceptions about Henry VIII and Anglicanism.

 

[Anna_Scott]

I’d be interested to know why his name makes you cringe. I’m interested in Tudor history and the misconceptions about Henry VIII and Anglicanism.

Matthew Holford,

Indeed there are many misconceptions about Anglicanism. It’s not King Henry’s name that makes me cringe. It’s the argument against Anglicanism that some people start using King Henry’s request for an annulment and his break with Rome. It’s played out many times over–here on the forums. It gets old after awhile.

Peace,
Anna