SBC Conservative Subgroups
LifeWay gave every messenger to the 2007 SBC Annual Meeting a copy of Building Bridges (online, 6Mb), a booklet containing essays by David S. Dockery and Timothy George.
I thought the most helpful section of the booklet was Dockery’s description of the various types of conservatives that influence the SBC (pp.24-25):
- Fundamentalists: hard-lined people who have more in common with “independent” Baptists than with the SBC heritage.
- Revivalists: true heirs of the Sandy Creek tradition, including their suspicion of education.
- Traditionalists: heirs of the Sandy Creek theology, commitment to evangelism and revivalism, but affirming of education.
- Orthodox Evangelicals: An irenic group that looked to Carl Henry, Harold Ockenga, and Billy Graham as models. This group wanted a theological course correction, a commitment to the full truthfulness of the Bible, serious intellectual and cultural engagement while interacting with all who would claim the great orthodox Christian tradition.
- Calvinists: A group that wanted to reclaim aspects of the “Charleston” theological tradition. Some among this group have a rather isolated mindset. They have much in common with the “Evangelical” group above, but tend at times not be as irenic or inclusive. Sub-groups include “Nine Marks,” “Sovereign Grace,” “Founders,” and others.
- Contemporary church practitioners: A group of pastors who wanted to find new ways to connect with the culture, resulting in new models for doing church, including “Willow Creek models,” “Saddleback models,” “missional,” and even some “emergent church types.”
- Culture Warriors: Another group of conservatives who desire to engage the issues of culture and society. This group includes a variety of approaches including “church over culture,” “church transforming culture” as well as “church and culture/social justice types.”
I thought the essays were humble and irenic and I commend them to you, if you haven’t read them in awhile.
