Denominational Cooperation: A Hard Look at the Southern Baptist Convention

If you are interested in gaining a broader, more informed perspective on these issues, consider listening to the following sermons that will help you think through the three tiers of doctrine and theology mentioned in the podcast today:

Qualifications for Elders: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3aZzcQetMcUISWTLW1L5I2OrCgINGXUc

Encountering God's Word: https://youtu.be/H76sOBNRpl0
The Sufficiency of God's Word (Session 1): https://youtu.be/liw62KMxGG0
God's Holy Word: https://youtu.be/Wxa2Mz1eZt0
The First Witnesses: https://youtu.be/w76RdEZFpxg
The Gospel of Jesus Christ: https://youtu.be/lnFSHSMdXVM
Preaching The Unvarnished Gospel of Jesus Christ: https://youtu.be/gdy340y9k9M

On this episode of the Straight Truth Podcast, Dr. Josh Philpot has some crucial questions for Dr. Richard Caldwell about churches being part of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Dr. Philpot mentions that he understands when the SBC first started, it began with a desire, having as its central mission, of pooling money together and sending missionaries out into the world to preach the gospel. The SBC website tells us that it is a collection of like-minded churches working in cooperation with one another to impact the whole world with the Good News of Jesus Christ. It's obvious that it has grown and flourished, and the Lord has blessed it in many ways. But it also seems there has been a lot of trouble in the convention over the years. If denominational churches are going to come together in cooperation like this, are there guidelines that should govern them? Where should those guidelines come from, and how should these groups think through this? Dr. Philpot asks Dr. Caldwell if denomination coops like this are good and helpful or if independent churches should be the norm. Does the New Testament help us with this; does it have anything to tell us about cooperative ministry among churches?

Dr. Caldwell tells us that in the New Testament, we do see churches cooperating together. There are letters circulated among the different churches, offerings that are taken up for suffering churches, prayer that is being asked for, and churches and members being prayed for. We read about all sorts of cooperation that takes place during this time. We want to remember that it’s a unique time, the church is brand new, and the Apostles are still on the scene. Therefore their doctrine is uniform across the board. They did not have the various viewpoints that now distinguish churches and denominations to such degrees. But what’s instructive about it is the idea that churches are working together with other churches so that no one is an island unto themselves. So that’s good instruction for us today about the need for and the benefit of cooperation among churches.

Having said this, Dr. Caldwell states that the conviction of the elders of Founders Baptist Church is that each local church congregation is autonomous; it’s self-governing. They would not be part of a denomination that seeks to dictate governance and policy. But where you have denominations that acknowledge the autonomous nature of church governance, these are really fellowships; they are fellowships of churches. They are like-minded churches that have voluntarily decided to cooperate for some end, which is better served by their coming together. So when we talk about the SBC, it is missions that actually hold the convention together along with its seminaries, which is part of its missions process. Dr. Caldwell says that he believes that there is value to this. But in doing this, there are decisions that have to be made regarding common beliefs, common goals, and even decisions down to the level of the philosophy of ministry. There is much that has to be considered, and every local church has to make these decisions.

In Acts 15, there's something like a denominational meeting or fellowship of believers and leaders who come together to resolve some doctrinal error. Could this be something that churches today should cooperate in doing? Dr. Caldwell believes there's a place for this if your church is part of a denomination or fellowship of churches. Just because each church is self-governing does not rule out the potential of collectively helping each other, even with doctrinal matters.