Letter to Southern Baptist Missionaries

During the week of May 12, 2002, Bill Fudge, the IMB Regional Leader for East Asia, sent the following letter to those Southern Baptist missionaries in his region who have declined to sign the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, including Sarah and Larry Ballew. The names of the particular missionaries replaced the blanks in the actual letters.

The Ballews and others see this document not as an accountability issue, which they have never rejected, but as an instrument of creedal control.

A brief personal paragraph at the beginning of the letter has been removed.

May, 2002

Dear ___________,

Greeting in our Lord’s Name.

This agency and the SBC may not be a voice for every church or person that claims to be part of the SBC, but this agency is and must continue to be responsive to the Southern Baptist Convention and its decisions. The SBC is not perfect, nor am I or Jerry Rankin or the IMB Trustees. But we are called upon in scriptures to be accountable. The Jerusalem Council called for its workers to give an account on pertinent doctrinal issues of the day. Jerry has asked the same thing of you and us all. If you are not able to be accountable to the IMB, I think you need to understand that you are out of step with and in a position contrary to the nature and ministry of this board, the East Asia Region, our ethos, and those who elect and send trustees who are charged with the oversight of this world wide ministry.

This whole issue is related to accountability. To this point, you have said resoundingly that you are not willing to affirm and reaffirm your accountability in established areas of concern. You have appealed to your previous doctrinal statements, current ministry etc., but you have refused to reaffirm your ministry in areas of concern. What areas of concern? Those areas covered in the BF&M. When a person continues to say he is not willing to affirm or reaffirm that he will be accountable in these areas, it highlites to me that that person even more needs to be held accountable.

_____________, I love you, and out of concern for you, I continue to pray for you and look for a way to facilitate your accountability in these areas of concern. The accountability issue is one which is broader than just reporting to a supervisor. It is also one of taking a stance and being accountable for your doctrinal and ministry positions. Hence the request by Jerry that each of our personnel sign a ministry statement of affirmation related to the BF&M. Refusal to not be accountable to our supporting agency, even in such a statement of affirmation related to ministry, is not acceptable.

_____________, I assume that you do understand that your earlier statement to me that ‘I subscribe to the Bible’ and ‘that I am willing to sign the Bible,’ though sounding good, still does not deal with the issues. Many others of different theological persuasion whom the SBC, churches, and institutions would not accept would also say the same thing. I think that many Methodists, Pentecostals, etc. would subscribe to the same statement.

Since you are not willing to sign a statement of ministry accountability referencing the BF&M, then would you be willing to write out in detail your theological positions on each topic covered in the BF&M and also sign a ministry accountability statement saying that you are willing to be held accountable to the IMB and Southern Baptists in your ministry related to those doctrines to which you subscribe? You could feel free to call upon your previous theological/doctrinal statements, the BF&M and other materials that reflect your present position. You would know that your statements will be evaluated in terms of the BF&M. _

_____________, I prayerfully submit these matters to you for your consideration and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
Bill Fudge

June 2002