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| Submitted: Friday, April 16, 2010; 1:44 p.m. print this page ● feedback ● main ALSBOM site |
Alabama Baptists are a Great Commission people.
There is NO DOUBT ABOUT IT! The Across Alabama
effort in relationship to the national GPS strategy (God's Plan
for Sharing) is just one case in point. I cannot recall a time
when so many churches in our state were involved in a major
endeavor to share the good news of Christ with people in their
own Jerusalem and Judea. This represents the kind of Great
Commission spirit so evident in Alabama Baptist life.
What
about beyond Alabama? Despite the eroding economic conditions in
Alabama, Alabama Baptists continue to be the leader in giving
through the Cooperative Program for SBC mission causes. This is
an encouraging indication of the commitment Alabama Baptists
have to reaching people in North America and around the world.
Alabama is not the wealthiest state in the US, but Alabama
Baptists are among the most missional in going beyond our
borders with the Gospel and being sacrificial in giving to
missions.
Consider these facts: In 2009 Alabama Baptists sent through the
State Board of Missions $21,533,332 to the International Mission
Board. That is almost one-third of all funds received in that
particular year. If you count monies sent for North American
missions in that category, then the total comes to $31,818,505
dollars or more than 47 percent of funds received in 2009. In
fact, of total receipts from Alabama Baptists through missions
offerings (Cooperative Program, Annie Armstrong, Lottie Moon and
World Hunger), 59 percent of those funds goes to SBC causes.
Alabama has only one state convention charged with the
responsibility of reaching the 50-60 percent of its population
who are, by their own admission, unreached. There are 42
conventions supporting the work of reaching North America and
the ends of the earth. In the future, we are all going to have
to be even more effective in pushing back the darkness of a lost
world. We have to tackle the huge challenge together as Southern
Baptists. To seek to do otherwise is to fragment the fragile
sense of cooperation which has made us the largest evangelical
group and arguably the most missional people in the history of
Christianity.
Personally, I grieve over the mischaracterizations offered by
some who question the commitment and loyalty of Alabama Baptists
in Great Commission Ministries. These uninformed people, no
matter how well placed, are not encouraging the kind of
cooperation needed to reach a lost nation or world. Baptists do
not have a structural problem, but admittedly, like any other
Christian people, we do have a spiritual one. Can we be more
effective in reaching people for Christ in Alabama and around
the world? Yes, absolutely yes we can, but name calling and
disseminating inaccurate information through blogs and tweets
are not the answers for our future.
Baptists are not Republicans and Democrats arguing for
particular legislation in Washington or in Montgomery. We are
God's people on mission with the Great Commission in our
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. That is
the spirit of Alabama Baptists. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!
