I try to stay away from discussing issues within the Southern Baptist Convention here at IsaiahSix because worship (the subject of this blog) is not unique to Southern Baptists. There are plenty of others who write about issues facing the SBC. The aim of IsaiahSix, then, is not to call into question the decisions or statements of our convention leaders. But when both issues combine, as they did recently, it bears a closer look. Consider me na?ve if you want to, but I have to admit I was blindsided by this:
. . . [C]oncerning the matter of worship style, we must decide what identifies us as Southern Baptists. This will be difficult, because we are autonomous, but I believe our Convention leaders need to make a more definitive statement about how we identify ourselves in worship and who we are as Southern Baptists.
This statement by the chair of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, Bill Harrell, appeared in the October 26, 2006, issue of The Christian Index, the Georgia state Baptist newspaper. I can’t imagine a definitive official statement on what kind of worship style constitutes a Southern Baptist church will ever be issued. But that the idea was even suggested causes me a great deal of concern.
Who knows? Maybe they are considering the idea of defining SBC Worship as "lifestyle" worship or some other thing where worship is not only a Sunday thing anymore.
I would hope that any statement coming from the convention would be along the lines of what sort of worship honors God rather than what style of music or whatever the hot-button issue with worship is at the time. I guess I'll see more of this in the BP News brief I get semi-regularly if it becomes a big deal. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, though. I didn't think this would come up for convention-level discussion. We had enough trouble starting two services and using "contemporary" music in one of them and "traditional" music in the other. (but that's a whole 'nother story)
-Pete