Zeroing In

The following is trustee Jerry Corbaley's response to Southern Baptist missionary Ron West. Following Jerry's post is an outstanding response from Ron. Please notice the Ron's last paragraph. (emphasis my own). It hits the bull's eye.

(Trustee Jerry Corbaley's Response To Missionary Ron West)

Hello Ron,

Thanks for taking the time to write. I am only posting your comment because it is important to address the issues you raise. It would be a mistake for others to conclude that I will post comments that address IMB trustees and/or staff by name. I think you are mistaken in your assessment of me. If you are unsatisfied with my response, then you need to take action. These words are written gently and concisely, they can be read that way. I hope they will not be taken as combative, but that is always a risk. Blogging is invigorating, isn’t it?

I agree with Dr. Rankin that anyone who would spread rumors and innuendos about doctrinal problems on the international mission field without identifying and verifying facts is being disrespectful to the missionaries. I also think that it would be gossip, and if delivered as an accusation, would be slander.

My public assertion during the plenary session was in regard to a statement by Dr. Rankin that there were no doctrinal problems on the mission field. I think that is a misstatement. I thought it could be misused and misunderstood by Southern Baptists at large and that Dr. Rankin might want to take the opportunity to clarify what he meant.

I also think individual problems on the field, whether doctrinal or moral, are delegated to the staff to resolve, and should the need arise, to the trustees. I do not think the occasional involvement of trustees is “interference”. It is ultimately their responsibility.

All SBC deliberative bodies attempt reconciliation in the smallest venue possible. This is in direct harmony with the Biblical admonitions regarding discretion and the principles of Matthew 18:15-17. There is no way I will be a part of declaring anyone’s sin on an international scale unless their sin is international in scope.

I assume you did not have access to the full text of what was said during the plenary session. I suggest that those who were there are in a better position to discern what happened and make decisions accordingly. The blogging community needs to come to grips with this. Partial information is not the whole truth. I think your conclusion regarding my character is an example of this.

I am very impressed with the moral and doctrinal integrity and faithfulness of the IMB missionaries. The selection and orientation process that they submit to is more effective than any pastoral search committee. The 5,000 plus missionaries of the IMB are as numerous, or larger, than any state or regional convention in the SBC. The rate of moral and doctrinal failure is lower, by far, than the paid pastoral staff of any state or regional convention in the SBC. The IMB is factually healthy.

A casual reading of the Bible reveals that every book, except Ruth and Song of Solomon, contains a record of people in conflict with one another over doctrine: What did God say, who believes it, who is doing what God says, and who is not. There are scores of direct New Testament statements and warnings regarding people who claim to be faithful but are not. It is naïve to conclude that doctrine will ever cease to be an issue. It is one thing to claim to be an inerrantist, it is another to actually allow the inerrant word to shape your perception.

Do our missionaries meet other Christians on the field? Are some of these Christians members of denominations that do not particularly care about the BFandM? Do these Christians have no influence whatsoever on the work?

Do our missionaries see people come to Christ? Do our missionaries help start and then minister to churches? Are people overseas somehow immune to unbelief and doctrinal error, or supernaturally above the faithfulness of disciples in America and the first century? This is the context. Can I honestly say there are no doctrinal problems on the field? I thought it was a misstatement. I still do.

Think for a moment about gossip and slander. Do you have a working definition based on the words of God? Is ministry just talking about what our opinions are regarding doctrine, or does faithfulness require action? Is the blogging phenomenon particularly subject to the sins of gossip and slander? Do we care? If one does not own a personal conviction about what God means when he talks about these sins, then one does not know God's point of view. If one does not know God's point of view, then whose opinion is one following? Do you have a better Biblically based definition than mine? Please share it with me. I am ready to improve.

The issue is even larger than a personal faith in what God means by gossip and slander. Who decides if someone is a gossip or a slanderer? Certainly God will at the last day. But who decides today? Is it not the business of the Christians who are witness to the behavior? Are they not obligated to decide? Is it not those who are part of a particular body that are serving together toward the common ministry objective? Whatever Christians I choose to work with are the Christians to whom I am accountable. Their expressed opinion matters. How dare I put myself above my peers?

Gossip and slander are spiritual concepts. So are integrity, respect, patience, love and cooperation. They cannot be measured by the pound or gallon. They are measured by the consensus of the Christians we work with. We need each other. Should any of the groups of Christians that I work with decide that I am sinning, I will take it very seriously indeed.

The IMB Trustees have adopted procedures for mutual accountability. I am subject to them. I will cooperate with them. I will take it to heart.

Obviously, I am not writing to Ron alone. I am willing to walk in the light. Disagree with me if you like. I would prefer to be challenged with better interpretations of Scripture and/or ideas to improve myself and the IMB.


(Missionary Ron West's Response To Trustee Jerry Corbaley)

Jerry,

I am satisfied to stick with your definition of gossip and slander until a better one comes along.

I think what we may have is a communication problem. It seems to me what Jerry Rankin was trying to say, and has said in the past, was that there are no problems on the field that we do not handle or that these problems come up often. In other words, it would be a problem if there were theological aberrations among our missionaries and they were ignored or accepted by other missionaries and our staff and trustees. Neither he nor anyone else said no individual missionary every has a theological question raised about something they have said or done. It will happen rarely but it does happen.

I deeply appreciate your paragraph where you begin by saying that you are very impressed by the doctrinal integrity of our IMB missionaries and end by saying that we are factually healthy. That gives me hope that we can communicate. Why can’t that be said by the trustees to Southern Baptists at large and repeated often. If this is true, why are we constantly hearing statements by trustees about doctrinal problems on the field. You would think heresy was everywhere.

You said the following in response to my note. “My public assertion during the plenary session was in regard to a statement by Dr. Rankin that there were no doctrinal problems on the mission field. I think that is a misstatement. I thought it could be misused and misunderstood by Southern Baptists at large and that Dr. Rankin might want to take the opportunity to clarify what he meant.” In BP your statement was that there are doctrinal problems on the field and that the trustees are handling several of them now and that they haven’t been recognized by staff. I think without clarification that could be misused and misunderstood by Southern Baptist at large. Why is it so important to you that we keep saying to Southern Baptists at large that there are theological problems with our missionaries? It doesn’t agree with your statement that we are factually healthy. You need to answer the questions I asked earlier in order to have some perception of what you are implying. What types of doctrinal problems are we talking about? Are they major problems concerning fundamental theological issues in conflict with the BFandM? How many missionaries out of the 5,200 are involved? Thousands? Unless you give further clarification, there are some who will take your statements as proof that there are many missionaries, maybe the majority, who are liberal in theology and teaching heresy all around the world and they will say that is what Jerry Corbaley is saying.

Maybe I am missing something but I do not understand what the following statement by you has to do with what we are talking about. “Do our missionaries meet other Christians on the field? Are some of these Christians members of denominations that do not particularly care about the BFandM? Do these Christians have no influence whatsoever on the work?” In California do you meet other Christians? Do some of these not care about the BFandM? Do they influence your work? What is that all about? Are we supposed to hide when other Christians walk by?

Ron

(Wade Burleson's closing thoughts on this matter).

New Directions is a IMB staff initiated and Board approved policy that reminds Southern Baptists to recognize God is at work through other Great Commission Churches and Great Commission missionary sending agencies.

It has been refreshing these last few years to see Southern Baptist missionaries work with other Great Commission Christians. Southern Baptists have exemplified a humble recognition under New Directions that the ekklessia Christ is building extends beyond the denominational walls of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The work of the Kingdom is too vast for Southern Baptists to be isolationists. I remind every pastor comfortable in his air conditioned office as he prepares for his sermon this Sunday that our missionaries who are in dark, dangerous regions of the world will enjoy fellowship with any believer who names the name of Christ. When a Southern Baptist missionary huddles in a basement under the cloak of darkness, sharing Christ with people in a neighborhood where confessing Christ as Lord means decapitation, all that Southern Baptist missionary is concerned about is "do the people with me love Jesus?"

I propose our missionaries might need to hide from the radical Muslim terrorists, but if we are insisting that they hide from a believer who professes the name of Jesus Christ on the mission field, just because he or she may not be Southern Baptist, then frankly, we need our heads examined (and our hearts).

I think Southern Baptist missionary Ron West is still owed answers to his penetrating questions.

In His Grace,


Wade Burleson