Some Baptists poised to drop `Southern'
Delegates at the Southern Baptist Convention's 2012 annual meeting approved the term “Great Commission Baptists” as an alternative name for their denomination.
Eight years later, the faith group's president says use of the unofficial “descriptor” is gaining traction among some Baptist leaders, including him.
The Rev. J. D. G re ear of North Carolina said
several pastors and other leaders are dropping the word “Southern” from the faith group's moniker.
“By every metric, `Great Commission' better captures the spirit of our convention than does` Southern ,'” Greear said in a statement. “Southern Baptists are more
excited about going forward into 2025 than commemorating 1845.”
Greear recently unveiled the convention's 2021 annual meeting theme“We Are Great Commission Baptists.” He told Baptist Press, the convention' s official news agency, that his own church, The Summit in the Raleigh-Durham area, will begin to use the term “Great Commission Baptists.”
The “Great Commission” refers to Matthew 28:16-20, in which Jesus instructs His disciples at Galilee to “therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
The spiritual mandate is at the heart of Baptists' mission, and that's why the Rev.
Wade Burleson of Enid said his church will join Greear's church and other Baptist houses of worship that have begun describing themselves as Great Commission Baptists, dropping the regional modifier from their name.
“I never believed we should be called `Southern.' I think Great Commission Baptists is perfect. I think this is the turning point,” Burleson said.
A past president of Oklahoma Baptists, the state Southern Baptist affiliate, he said the connection the word “Southern” has to the faith group's history with slavery posed problems for him.
“The idea of a `Southern' Baptist Convention speaks of a separation of whites and Blacks and I am totally, totally against that,” he said.
Thus, he said the alternate name is more appropriate.
“Frankly, with the race difficulties today, i t's time,” Burleson said.
What's in a name?
The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in America, and the largest faith group in Oklahoma (known as the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma or Oklahoma Baptists) with about 1,700 churches around the state.
Greear, in a statement sent to The Oklahoman, said the denomination's alternate name has merit for several reasons.
“On the whole, Southern Baptists are no longer united by a shared Southern heritage, but the Great Commission. Our new mission areas are no longer primarily in the South, and even our membership increases to be non-Southern,” he said.
Greear said the convention voted on using the alternate term in 2012 primarily to help churches and planters outside the southeast. He said Baptist leaders are seeing a movement of churches and leaders in the southeast putting the name to use.
“Churches are free to use whichever term best serves their membership and the people they are trying to reach,” Greear said.
Bur les on and the Rev. Bobby Kelly said they think the convention president may eventually appeal to the denomination's members to make the unofficial name a permanent one. Recently, Greear said that didn't happen in the past because it would be an expensive change.
Kelly, the Ruth Dickinson Chair of Bible at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, was among Oklahoma Southern Baptists who recently weighed in on the topic.
In 2012, the discussion on the matter centered around concerns that the term “Southern” was too regional and might have negative connotations for some people because it has its roots in the pre-Civil War split between Baptists over the issue of slavery. The denomination was formed in 1845 when Baptists in Southern states of the U.S. split with Northern Baptists after anger over missionaries owning slaves.
The current con versation about an unofficial name seemed to flow along those same lines.
Kelly, who has served as interim pastor for several metro churches, said the move to another name may help the denomination distance itself from its slave-holding roots. He said the convention officially condemned slavery and denounced individual and systemic racism in 1995, and the growing desire to drop “Southern” from the denomination's name may be the “fruits” of that effort.
“Southern Baptists had been a bit slow to acknowledge that our founding was maybe not solely rooted in slavery, but related to Baptists in the South wanting to reject getting rid of slavery. So you're sort of carrying that baggage with you from 1845 to 1995,” Kelly said.
Kelly said the alternate name doesn't come with “baggage” of stereotypes of the South and it focuses on what unifies Baptists.
“We might have theological differences between Baptists on issues like Calvinism. We might have differences on how we should be responding to the racial injustices that are on the news on a regular basis. We might have debates about the Me Too movement — Baptists have had debates on how best to respond to those concerns. But when it comes to the Great Commission, there's unity. It crosses theological boundaries. It crosses social justice questions and really gets to the heart of who I think Baptists are and who we want to be,” he said.
He said the spiritual significance of a name change can't be discounted, either. For example, Jesus changed Simon's name to Peter.
“It doesn't describe his character at the moment, but he's going to be foundational in the building of the kingdom of God,” Kelly said of the apostle. “In Scripture, a name change usually indicates some significant work of God in someone's life.”
Name reflects spiritual mission
The Rev. Joe Ligon, senior associate executive director of Oklahoma Baptists, said the unofficial name aptly describes Baptists and their spiritual mission, which won't change regardless of their moniker.
“The Great Commission is what we do, regardless of what we call ourselves,” Ligon said. “The theme of our 2021 summer meeting challenges us to focus on the primary purpose that bring us together to cooperate with one another in the first place — making disciples of all nations.”
The Rev. E. Todd Fisher, senior pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Shawnee, said he thought the alternative name was good and he was unsure why it “never stuck” until now.
“I think with everything going on in our culture today, that word `Southern' can be a loaded word. It can conjure up a lot of negative things for people and I think it's just goes against what we're trying to do as a denomination. We're trying to reach all people with the Gospel — that's what we want to do,” Fisher said.
“I think that term `Southern' can just kind of throw up some barriers, with the past and racism, absolutely.”
He said the denomination's name also doesn't tell the true story of its global reach.
“I have friends that are planting churches in the Pacific Northwest and in the Northeast like Connecticut,” Fisher said. “We are not just in the South. We're not just in the United States. With our International Mission Board, we are all over the globe.
The Rev. Cameron Whaley, senior pastor of Aspen Park Baptist Church in Broken Arrow, said he liked where convention president Greear is heading.
He said Southern Baptists have spent years apologizing for their stance upholding slavery and the alternate name will help the faith group as it continues to distance itself from that mindset.
“I think we're being tested — the whole world is obviously being tested right now, but especially Baptists — are we really serious about what we say?” Whaley said. “God is no respecter of persons, neither Jew nor Greek, slave or free man. We need to continue to affirm that.”