Concerned Missionaries:

We are SBC FMB representatives in an Asian country. We have followed with dismay the continuing disintegration of trust and cooperation that continues to afflict our national as well as state conventions. On the other hand, we applaud the decisions of Texas Baptists, and Virginia Baptists before them, in their effort to rebuild cooperation by redefining the Cooperative Program. We believe their new giving plans are more equitable for and inclusive of all Baptists along the whole political and theological spectrum found among equally committed Southern Baptists.

Specifically, we are grieved at the decision at the SBC convention last June to refuse to accept money channeled through the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. To do so at a time when budgets on the field are being limited is sad. Have Southern Baptists changed from defining cooperation as voluntary to something that is only done in complete conformity? Beyond that, we are grieved that the grossly inaccurate characterization of CBF’s theological beliefs (such as the charges that they believe in and support homosexuality, do not believe in the virgin birth, etc.) was allowed to go unchallenged at the convention. We have many close friends and family members who are active in CBF who strongly believe in the fundamentals of faith.

SBC as well as FMB leaders continue to condemn CBF as a force that is competing for and eroding Cooperative Program and other mission giving. We could see how they justify such accusations if these same leaders were to decry the competition for SBC funds of other non-SBC institutions such as Mid-America Seminary or Criswell College. Further, these same leaders say nothing publicly about the megachurches that spend large percentages of their mission giving to support non- SBC mission efforts. Lest we be misunderstood, let us say that we believe strongly in the right of the local church to decide how to divide its mission giving. We believe in the right of churches who so choose to support MidAmerica Seminary or Criswell College. Our concern is over the double standard our leadership has applied to speaking against one form of competition and not against the other kind.

This double standard has been especially evident in recent months with the emergence of two conservative fellowships in Texas and Virginia. These fellowships have stated their intention to move seriously toward forming a competing convention in each of those states. I have yet to hear one of these leaders, who so seriously decry CBF’s competition, speak out against the formation of these two new groups. Again, these groups have a right to form. But where is the consistency and justice in such a double standard?

Ultimately, all of us as Southern Baptists must rise above this incrimination of others. God’s mission to this lost world requires the full commitment of each of us. Therefore, we encourage everyone to give much more sacrificially to the furthering of the Lord’s kingdom whether it be through traditional SBC channels or through CBF channels. In the spirit of the inclusive actions concerning mission giving by the Texas and Virginia Baptist Conventions, we affirm giving to the Lord’s mission through both channels.

S. Kent & Erika Parks

*Reprinted with permission from Baptists Today, March 9, 1995.

April 1995