A Response to News Within the Southern Baptist Convention

Written By Ben Adkison

24 Church Family,

Perhaps you’ve seen that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has been in the news again recently, and not for good reasons. However, if you’re not aware of what’s going on, here’s a brief explanation: 

The Southern Baptist Convention in the News

Last Summer at the Southern Baptist Annual Convention, a motion was passed to hire an outside organization to investigate the extent to which sexual abuse was occurring within SBC churches. For several years talk about sexual abuse has hovered over the SBC. Depending on who you talked to, this was either a widespread issue or a mere blip on the radar. To complicate matters, there were accusations that the Executive Committee of the SBC had intentionally bullied victims and covered up allegations in order to maintain a “good face.” The report, which was conducted by Guidepost Solutions, sought to investigate the accusations of abuse, the accusations of coverup, and to propose solutions. The SBC is in the news again because the findings of the report are now public, and they are devastating.

So what did this report find? Well it’s nearly 300 pages long. But this extended quote form Russell Moore helps sum up the larger findings:

The conclusions of the report are so massive as to almost defy summation. It corroborates and details charges of deception, stonewalling, and intimidation of victims and those calling for reform. It includes written conversations among top Executive Committee staff and their lawyers that display the sort of inhumanity one could hardly have scripted for villains in a television crime drama. It documents callous cover-ups by some SBC leaders and credible allegations of sexually predatory behavior by some leaders themselves, including former SBC president Johnny Hunt (who was one of the only figures in SBC life who seemed to be respected across all of the typical divides).

And then there is the documented mistreatment by the Executive Committee of a sexual abuse survivor, whose own story of her abuse was altered to make it seem that her abuse was a consensual “affair”—resulting, as the report corroborates, in years of living hell for her.

For years, leaders in the Executive Committee said a database—to prevent sexual predators from quietly moving from one church to another, to a new set of victims—had been thoroughly investigated and found to be legally impossible, given Baptist church autonomy. My mouth fell open when I read documented proof in the report that these very people not only knew how to have a database, they already had one.

Allegations of sexual violence and assault were placed, the report concludes, in a secret file in the SBC Nashville headquarters. It held over 700 cases. Not only was nothing done to stop these predators from continuing their hellish crimes, staff members were reportedly told not to even engage those asking about how to stop their child from being sexually violated by a minister. Rather than a database to protect sexual abuse victims, the report reveals that these leaders had a database to protect themselves.

There you have it. Pretty grim. If you have the stomach to read further, check out:

Our History with the Southern Baptist Convention

As a church we have been loosely connected with the SBC since we began. The majority of our staff and pastors grew up in healthy and thriving SBC churches. When 24 Church was planted, it was sponsored by the Tennessee Baptist Convention and several other SBC churches. We’ve always affirmed (and still do affirm) the doctrinal statement of Southern Baptists, known as the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. We have participated in Southern Baptist events such as Super Summer and CentriKid, given to Southern Baptist offerings such as the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, and attended Southern Baptist seminaries. If we’re honest, most of us are fairly thankful for our SBC upbringing and the meaningful ways in which we’ve cooperated with the larger family of SBC churches.

However, it’s also true that throughout our history we’ve chosen not to participate in many ways with the SBC. None of our pastors have ever attended the SBC Annual Convention (there’s often a lot of political maneuvering and red tape that just isn’t our style). We’ve given to missions through the SBC and have friends who are on the mission field through the SBC, and yet most of our missions relationships don’t include the SBC—instead these partnerships happen through a direct relationship with the organization we’re sponsoring. Further, we have always distanced ourselves stylistically from some of the common practices within the Southern Baptist landscape. We’ve never wanted to be a suit-and-tie church. We’re a come-as-you-are church. We’ve never made a rule about abstaining from alcohol (as many in the SBC do); we believe that the responsible consumption of alcohol is not sinful. We’ve benefited from some SBC curriculum, but also found much of it lacking. Perhaps most frustratingly, we’ve found at times that our participation in SBC has not been welcomed because we didn’t fit the mold or didn’t have “baptist” in our name.

Our Future as a Church

In light of this report, the pastors and ministers of 24 Church believe it is time for us to formally cut ties with the Southern Baptist Convention. The accusations of the report are gross. We want no part of it.  

Further:

      • We believe that it will be hard for the SBC to meaningfully change. It’s a big convention that moves slow, and there are many forces at work within the convention (some trying to undermine the findings of the report).

      • Our pastors are not involved in the conventions (essentially business meetings) where change is decided upon. Nor do we feel compelled to spend the time and money that would be required in order to meaningfully participate.

      • Though we believe that partnership within God’s kingdom is extremely important, we do not need the SBC in order to partner in meaningful ways with larger universal church.

      • Finally, we do not want to add a stumbling block to the gospel. We never want someone considering the claims of Christ to walk away from belief because of our association with the Southern Baptist Convention.

Our plan as a church is to formally cut ties beginning in January 2023 as part of a larger reworking of our constitution and bylaws. Practically speaking, not much will change in the daily operations of 24 church. Our missions giving will change somewhat, but not much. Our kids and students can still attend camps such as CentriKid (they’re open to all churches and we feel really good about these camps and believe they are safe and wonderful). We will maintain friendships within the SBC (there are a lot of good folks who have nothing to do with these shenanigans and who are fighting for change). And, we’ll still be a baptistic church (our beliefs aren’t changing); however, we will no longer be affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

Safety at 24 Church

One of our highest priorities as a church is the safety of our people, and especially our children. This is why we have a security team in place every Sunday. It’s why we have preformed background checks on all volunteers since our inception over 17 years ago. And it’s why we always involve law enforcement if we become aware of any accusations of abuse or violence of any sort. Further, we’re in the process of looking over our safety protocols and asking what else we can do to further protect our church from predators. 

If you believe something else could help, or if you have further questions, we’d love to chat. Please reach out:  welcome@24church.com  //  615-746-0024.

The Leadership Team at 24 Church,

Chris, Joey, Nathan, Jason, Ben, & Dave

Ben Adkison

I’m a pastor, coffee nerd, and freelance graphic artist / website builder who’s too busy to update his own website.

https://beardedmanstudio.com
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