{"id":20771,"date":"2011-09-26T13:30:04","date_gmt":"2011-09-26T18:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/?p=20771"},"modified":"2011-09-26T12:57:16","modified_gmt":"2011-09-26T17:57:16","slug":"southern-baptist-discussing-a-name-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/26\/southern-baptist-discussing-a-name-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Southern Baptist Discussing a Name Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

From USAToday by Jonathan Merritt:<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

A week ago,\u00a0Southern Baptist Convention<\/a> President Bryant Wright told his organization\u2019s executive committee in Nashville that he\u00a0had appointed a task force<\/a> to study a possible name change. Abandoning the 166-year-old identifier, he argued, would help the group thrive both in America and internationally.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, the convention\u2019s name is so regional,\u201d Wright said. \u201cWith our focus on church planting, it is challenging in many parts of the country to lead churches to want to be part of a convention with such a regional name. Second, a name change could position us to maximize our effectiveness in reaching\u00a0North America<\/a> for Jesus Christ in the 21st century.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wright is, well, right. The label is no longer accurate. Until the mid-20th century, the denomination was concentrated almost exclusively in the American South and Southwest. That is no longer the case. While most congregations still exist below the Mason-Dixon line, SBC churches \u2014 all 40,000 of them, as well as 16 million members \u2014 have spread to all 50 states, and the SBC\u2019s missionary effort has planted thousands more globally. The denomination also comprises more than a quarter of all American evangelicals\u2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe SBC is not driven by a Southern agenda nor a Southern vision,\u201d said\u00a0Albert Mohler<\/a>, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville\u2026.<\/p>\n

Southern Baptists are, in many ways, facing a struggle that has played out in the broader American culture. Changing their name would be akin to Southern schools dropping \u201crebel\u201d mascots and Southern states scrubbing Confederate imagery from their flags. While the SBC has made strides in repudiating its shameful past, including a 1995 resolution apologizing to African Americans, this bold move would be another important step.<\/p>\n

As Jon Akin, a Southern Baptist pastor in Tennessee says, \u201cWe\u2019ve obviously made statements and resolutions saying that we do not affirm what happened in our past \u2026 but it\u2019s something we\u2019ve got to continue to answer in terms of our heritage \u2014 that we aren\u2019t going to be a mostly Southern, mostly middle-class, mostly white denomination, that we want to reach all nations.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From USAToday by Jonathan Merritt: A week ago,\u00a0Southern Baptist Convention President Bryant Wright told his organization\u2019s executive committee in Nashville that he\u00a0had appointed a task force to study a possible name change. Abandoning the 166-year-old identifier, he argued, would help the group thrive both in America and internationally. \u201cFirst, the convention\u2019s name is so regional,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSouthern Baptist Discussing a Name Change<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From USAToday by Jonathan Merritt: A week ago,\u00a0Southern Baptist Convention President Bryant Wright told his organization's executive committee in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/26\/southern-baptist-discussing-a-name-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Southern Baptist Discussing a Name Change\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From USAToday by Jonathan Merritt: A week ago,\u00a0Southern Baptist Convention President Bryant Wright told his organization's executive committee in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/26\/southern-baptist-discussing-a-name-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-26T18:30:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-09-26T17:57:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/26\/southern-baptist-discussing-a-name-change\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/26\/southern-baptist-discussing-a-name-change\/\",\"name\":\"Southern Baptist Discussing a Name Change\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-09-26T18:30:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-09-26T17:57:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"From USAToday by Jonathan Merritt: A week ago,\u00a0Southern Baptist Convention President Bryant Wright told his organization's executive committee in\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/26\/southern-baptist-discussing-a-name-change\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/26\/southern-baptist-discussing-a-name-change\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/09\/26\/southern-baptist-discussing-a-name-change\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Southern Baptist Discussing a Name Change\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. 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