I hang out in blog-land a lot, I write and read and comment. As bloggers, we know how to argue and disagree and say some pretty harsh things. Especially on some hot button issues. I would list them, but then someone would hijack the post to talk about them. On second thought, that will happen anyway, so let’s list them. Calvinism Vs Traditionalism, Alcohol, complementary vs egalitarian, and many more. We even fight over if Lifeway curriculum is the best (which it is).
My fellow bloggers, perhaps it’s time to put the focus on our differences on a back burner. We have some issues that I would like to see us begin to tackle. As bloggers, we have the gift of having a collective of heads. We have some issues, the country is pushing for the rights of people to choose everything except those things that are Holy. You can marry whoever you want, kill your baby, teach perversion, run around naked and yell obscenities, but you can’t preach about Jesus.
How do I equip my children to live in our world (without fighting about home school vs public school vs Christian school). How do I survive in a world that is hostile to my belief set? How do we as Southern Baptists begin to move into the community and begin a dialogue that will promote change? How can our churches survive if suddenly we lose our tax exempt status? How can we reach people, lead them to Christ and disciple them, regardless of our view on election and predestination. (Yes, we can talk about evangelism from a human perspective, with or without election).
I’m not saying that the issues we tackle and often disagree on aren’t important. I think the discussion about the hot button issues is very important. I believe your view of salvation matters, the way you interpret many key passages of scripture change how you do ministry. It’s not an issue, however, that I think we need to focus on so much. I appreciate how many other bloggers have been writing content that is moving away from these issues. We need to discuss things like apologetics, we need to discuss outreach and evangelism and current events. We need to tackle church planting and how we can use our Cooperative Program dollars to invest in Kingdom growth.
At a time like this, can we stand together and tackle some hard issues? Can we make a positive movement towards racial reconciliation in our country, towards rule of law and citizens rights? Can we as Southern Baptists contribute to the national dialogue in such a way that saves the lives of millions of unborn babies and gives women hope? Can we move beyond just trying to grow our one congregation and focus on making Jesus known to those who don’t know?
I believe we can, but will we?