On-Mission Mondays: Ed Stetzer's "Toward a Missional Convention"

Get a cup of coffee, settle in to your desk chair, and take 45 minutes to listen to Ed Stetzer's lecture, "Toward a Missional Convention." (Links are at the end of this post.)

He delivered this at the Baptist Identity Conference at Union University. I listened to all the lectures, but I'd put Timothy George (iTunes; website) and Ed Stetzer at the top of the "worth listening" list (Jim Shaddix did a good job, too, though he painted contemporary ways of "doing church" with way too broad a brushstroke: iTunes; website).

As I said, you should take the time to listen to Stetzer's lecture--no, let's call it a plea. My only complaint is that he spoke too quickly, making it difficult to keep up with the huge amount of information he unpacked. But bear with the delivery and listen carefully.

Stetzer starts out with about 10 minutes of the use of the word "missional" in history and in current use, including the reluctance some in the SBC have to its use. Whether or not we want to use the word, we need to practice the concept, Stetzer says:

Being "mission-minded" does not mean we are "missional." "Many churches will go to great lengths and tremendous expense to involve members in missional activities far from home, yet fail to engage fully their own neighborhood."

He then gets into three ways the SBC can be a thriving missional convention as they were in the past. These three points are common themes in Stetzer's lectures and writings:

First, contend for the faith. Stetzer says that the SBC conservative resurgence that began in 1979 was necessary to preserve the convention as biblically-faithful, which is a necessary mark of a missional church: "A missional church will always contend for the gospel in its setting [Jude 3] because that is its nature."

Second, contextualize the ministry. We have to uphold biblical faithfulness (contend) in a specific setting (contextualize). Stetzer says: "Two hindrances often occur when churches try to contend for the gospel without engaging their society. First, they are seen as irrelevant, and consequently their message is also viewed as irrelevant. Second, the church does not really know the needs, desires, or the concerns of those around them, nor do they see the possibilities that exist to act upon these opportunities and speak to peoples' hearts."

Third, cooperate with other churches for the kingdom of God. Stetzer says that the SBC entities are no longer leading in this cooperative venture. Some memorable quotes:

"The first step in organizational decline is that you lose your creative people, who decide to go on to more entrepreneural settings. We have already lost most of this number. In fact, we have actively pushed many of them out by teaching and preaching against them in many SBC contexts and venues. The next step in decline is that the most competent among us begin to leave. . . ."

. . .

"We've already told a whole generation of 'Purpose-Driven' pastors that they're not really needed or wanted in today's SBC [that would be my generation]. Are we intent on communicating this same message to the next generation?"

. . .

"When Jimmy Draper was planning the first national 'young leaders' meeting, he asked me for suggested speakers. I told him what we needed most was a nationally-known pastor who had credibility with young pastors and who was also still clearly connected with the denomination. His voice went up with excitement: "Exactly! Who?" With sadness I replied, 'That's my point.'

Stetzer assures us that “solid missional and theologically-sound churches can be planted, revitalized, or grown" but only "if we will choose to engage and be part of the solution, not continue to lob grenades of half truths and caricatures into missional church contexts.”

Good stuff. I'm planning to be at the "Gathering for Missional Leaders" at the Southern Baptist Convention in San Antonio, Monday, June 11th, 9pm. Maybe I'll see you there.

So, get that cup of coffee, carve out 45 minutes, and listen:

Toward a Missional Convention

If you'd rather read his paper, you can find it here. If you'd rather download the audio file to your mp3 player, you can find the audio link at this website or iTunes.

Every Monday I post about being “on mission” with Christ. Find previous posts here. In the "On-Mission Mondays" posts, I've been reflecting on Milfred Minatrea’s book, Shaped By God's Heart: The Passion and Practices of Missional Churches. I'll get back to that next week.