It's About Time...

From the May 4th Baptist Press article:

Baptists from diverse backgrounds issue an apology for our 'narrowing', 'unloving', and 'narcissistic' actions. They issued the 'Memphis Declaration'.

"Expressing displeasure over what they call a
“narrowing of cooperation through exclusionary theological and
political agendas” in the Southern Baptist Convention, a group of
Southern Baptist conservatives issued a document May 3 announcing their
desire to seek renewal in the convention, their churches and their
personal lives through repentance."

There are eight points to the declaration. Here are a few to whet your appetite:

#1- We publicly repent of triumphalism about
Southern Baptist causes and narcissism about Southern Baptist
ministries which have corrupted our integrity in assessing our
denomination bureaucracy, our churches, and our personal witness in
light of the sobering exhortations of Scripture. Therefore, we...

#2- We publicly repent of an arrogant spirit that
has infected our partnership with fellow Christians in the advance of
the gospel of Jesus Christ, without the hearing of which men are
incapable of conversion. Therefore, we .....

#3- We publicly repent of having condemned those
without Christ before we have loved them, and that we have acted as
judge of those for whom Christ died by failing to live with a
redemptive spirit toward them. Therefore, we...

#6- We publicly repent of having misplaced our
priorities on the building and sustaining of institutions of secondary
and far inferior importance than the local church. Therefore, we...


BTW, it comes as no surprise that our buddy Wade Burleson was part of this...

I'm not sure how this can possibly be a bad thing for the Kingdom (although I'm sure someone can spin it as such...). If you'd like to read the whole article, go here.

Any thoughts?