SBC Talks With Younger Leaders Reveal Conservative Values, Missions Focus
by Allie Martin
June 29, 2005
(AgapePress) - The president of LifeWay Christian Resources has been involved in an ongoing effort to help the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), America's largest evangelical denomination, increase input and participation from young pastors and laypeople in denominational leadership roles.For the past year, LifeWay president Dr. Jimmy Draper has traveled the United States, holding summits with young SBC pastors and leaders and engaging them in dialogue as part of the church's "Younger Leaders Initiative." He says he has learned a lot from these conversations.
"We've had nine meetings with over 600 of them," Draper says, referring to these young SBC ministers, ordained and otherwise. Talking "face-to-face for five-hour meetings" with young Southern Baptist individuals from North Carolina to Texas to New England, he notes, "we've raised some issues of missions and evangelism, denominational renewal, biblical inclusiveness and diversity, creativity -- things that are just very important."
In these conversations, the head of LifeWay is finding that younger SBC leaders are ready and eager to make a positive impact on their culture. "There's such energy and passion with these young folks," he says, "and they really are conservative and evangelistic. They've even coined a new word -- 'missional.' It means 'We're on mission for God, and we want to have a vision for mission.""
Also, Draper notes, the younger leaders with whom he has been talking "don't care about a lot of the trappings that usually go with [church mission] programs." Instead, he observes, many typically say, "We just want to have a 'missional' concept of engaging our culture -- and whatever that means, let's get out there and do it."
For the most part, Draper points out, young leaders in the SBC hold conservative values and are more concerned with reaching the world for Christ than they are with denominational politics. "It's an exciting thing," he adds. And although transitioning from one generation to another is never easy, the LifeWay spokesman says he foresees a bright future for the SBC because of the incredible young individuals who are coming of age in the denomination.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
