You may have heard, or might hear soon, that the Southern Baptist convention is considering changing the identity of our name “Southern Baptist”. The new alternative is one that I really like. It is more descriptive… “Great Commission Baptist”. In fact, this year’s theme at the Southern Baptist Convention will be “We are Great Commission Baptists”. Now, let’s deal with some questions and concerns. First, I know that change is hard whether it is good or bad, wanted or needed…change is hard. Technically, they say change is not hard…it is the transition that is hard. Okay, whichever. I have found that change can be challenging. Second, this is not an effort to be politically correct or incorrect. It is not a part of the current day movement of removing our history or being “woke”. As far back as 1903, Southern Baptists raised the question of changing our identity as just “Southern” to something that better reflects our commitment to all of North America and the world. Nine years ago, in 2012, the Southern Baptist Convention voted to approve the alternate unofficial name change to the more descriptive “Great Commission Baptist”. That was years ahead of this crazy trend of trying to erase or re-write our country’s history. So do not associate the two of them. We embrace the strengths of our past and we should repent and seek to correct the sins and failures of our past. If we can do better and be better we should do better and be better. My goal is to lead our church to be spiritually correct not politically correct.
Years ago JIBC tried a slight rebranding and tried to add “The Church @Riverland Terrace” to our name. It had nothing to do with rejection our past or not embracing our past. We were trying to reach out to our community with a name that would not limit interest to just those who wanted to attend a Southern Baptist Church. The experiment came out as “The Church @Riverland Terrace, James Island Baptist”. I thought it was a worthy experiment. I cannot tell that it made any positive difference. I still think it was a good faith effort to help us reach our community.The name Great Commission Baptist is a positive, biblically based name. I like it. It will take some getting used to and it will be hard to change and get it out of our DNA. If it helps us stay focused on missions and helps us break down unnecessary barriers to reach those who desperately need the Gospel of Jesus Christ…then bring it on. We are not just “Southern” anymore. By God’s grace we have expanded across North America and to the far corners of the world. Let’s pray together “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
The Charleston Baptist Association newsletter has written a great article on this topic with some helpful resources. To read more than my reflections on this article, check it out at www.charlestonbaptist.net.
See you Sunday, good Lord willing,
Pastor Tom
