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{"id":7646,"date":"2021-06-15T08:25:08","date_gmt":"2021-06-15T13:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/?p=7646"},"modified":"2021-06-15T08:25:08","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T13:25:08","slug":"what-is-christian-mission-without-any-call-to-conversion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2021\/06\/what-is-christian-mission-without-any-call-to-conversion\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Christian Mission without Any Call to Conversion?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

What Is Christian Mission without Any Call to Conversion?<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

In 1999 I moved \u2013 from one Baptist institution of higher education (college and seminary) to another one. Two different Baptist denominations (conferences, conventions, fellowships). Very similar in many ways, but culturally very different. One mostly northern, the other one mostly southern. One rooted originally in the Northern\u00a0 Baptist Convention (now the American Baptist Churches, USA), the other one rooted in the Southern Baptist Convention. Both broke away from their \u201croot\u201d denominations and became separate. Still, they shared a similar ethos\u2014broadly evangelical, mission-oriented, strong on witness and evangelism, Bible-believing, Jesus-loving, church-planting, etc.<\/p>\n

I realize that most people in the United States and even in other countries hear \u201cBaptist\u201d and immediately think \u201cfundamentalist\u201d if not \u201cright-wing, religious nutcase.\u201d The media have spread this stereotype based on some radical right-wing Baptist preachers and denominational leaders. In fact, there are many kinds of Baptists in the United States and around the world; it\u2019s difficult to say what they all have in common that is truly distinctive to them and not shared with other Protestant groups.<\/p>\n

Neither of the two Baptist groups I mentioned in the first paragraph\u2014to which I belonged for about thirty years\u2014could rightly be considered fundamentalist or uniformly \u201cright-wing.\u201d In 1999 both were middle of the road, centrist evangelical fellowships of churches\u2014each having around one thousand congregations in the United States (or in one case, also Canada). Both were and are mission-oriented.<\/p>\n

*Sidebar: The opinions expressed here are my own (or those of the guest writer); I do not speak for any other person, group or organization; nor do I imply that the opinions expressed here reflect those of any other person, group or organization unless I say so specifically. Before commenting read the entire post and the \u201cNote to commenters\u201d at its end.*<\/em><\/p>\n

I recently received the Summer 2021 issue of my current Baptist denomination\u2019s magazine. (This denomination, like many, denies being a \u201cdenomination\u201d and calls itself a \u201cfellowship of churches,\u201d but, sociologically, anyway, it is a denomination. I am still a member of one of its affiliated churches and was a member of another one for many years. I won\u2019t go into the reasons I changed congregations. Interestingly, perhaps, both had women pastors.<\/p>\n

The magazine I referred to above (Summer 2021) is about my current Baptist denomination\u2019s \u201cImpact\u201d and contains \u201cStories from Around the World\u201d\u2014about its \u201cfield personnel\u201d around the world. (The words \u201cmissionary\u201d and \u201cmissionaries\u201d are notably missing.) The magazine contains about ten articles profiling this Baptist denomination\u2019s work in America and many countries. I sat down and read every article, even every word of the magazine. Notably missing, so far as I can tell, is any mention of evangelism, telling people about Jesus and inviting them to accept him as Savior and Lord, or conversion. Everything is about social work, advocacy for the disadvantaged, offering suffering people \u201chospitality and hope.\u201d But nary a word about inviting people to become Christians or even just to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.<\/p>\n

One article says that \u201cthe deepest root of our Baptist story\u201d is \u201cfreedom of religion or belief for all.\u201d That is an important emphasis of traditional Baptist belief and practice, but is it \u201cthe deepest root of our Baptist story?\u201d I don\u2019t think so. Baptist are Christians (or should be) and the deepest root of our story, together with all true Christians, is Jesus Christ and the gospel. I failed to find the gospel of Jesus Christ explicitly mentioned in this magazine which makes my heart sink. Twenty-two years ago, when I first entered into this fellowship, this Baptist denomination, I researched it, met some of its leaders, joined one of its leading congregations, began teaching at a seminary affiliated with it, and knew<\/em> that it was Jesus-centered and gospel-centered and mission and witness-centered. I\u2019m sure they will say they still are all of those things, but this magazine leads me to think otherwise.<\/p>\n

Lacking is any conversion story or any story of a \u201cpartner\u201d who leads someone to faith in Jesus Christ. Nothing even remotely approaching that appears in the magazine so far as I can tell.<\/p>\n

Put this together with the \u201ctestimony\u201d I heard not long ago at my church and I am convinced, but willing to be unconvinced, that this denomination has lost its way. She is a paid partner of the denomination working with immigrants to the United States. She talked endlessly about \u201ctransforming initiatives\u201d but failed even once to mention witness to Jesus Christ. The \u201ctransforming initiatives\u201d were\/are what the magazine calls offering \u201chospitality and hope\u201d to people with physical and emotional needs. Not once during her thirty minute presentation did she say anything about telling people about Jesus.<\/p>\n

Sadly, I have come to the conclusion that my denomination<\/em> is no longer evangelical, even in a broad sense. I am open to correction, but someone from the denomination will have to tell me how and where its partners in America and around the world are actively inviting people to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior by faith in him (conversion).<\/p>\n

*Note to commenters:<\/em> This blog is not a discussion board; please respond with a question or comment only to me. If you do not share my evangelical Christian perspective (very broadly defined), feel free to ask a question for clarification, but know that this is not a space for debating incommensurate perspectives\/worldviews. In any case, know that there is no guarantee that your question or comment will be posted by the moderator or answered by the writer. If you hope for your question or comment to appear here and be answered or responded to, make sure it is civil, respectful, and \u201con topic.\u201d Do not comment if you have not read the entire post and do not misrepresent what it says. Keep any comment (including questions) to minimal length; do not post essays, sermons or testimonies here. Do not post links to internet sites here. This is a space for expressions of the blogger\u2019s (or guest writers\u2019) opinions and constructive dialogue among evangelical Christians (very broadly defined).<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"