The Dividing Line for Southern Baptists

The Dividing Line for Southern BaptistsHeath LambertConviction or Judgment?The great Southern Baptist Convention of today is defined by the historic doctrinal struggle in the 1970s and 80s known as the conservative resurgence. Back then, theological liberalism had crept into the entities of the SBC, compromising biblical authority and threatening our gospel witness. In one of the great stories of theological recovery in all of church history, normal Southern Baptists fought to restore convictional integrity to our convention life.Today, we are benefiting from the work of that faithful generation. It is our knowledge of and respect for that significant time in our convention history that has led some to misdiagnose certain difficulties we are facing in convention life today.As we have sought to understand and talk about those difficulties, many assume the line dividing us is one of theological conviction, just as it was in the conservative resurgence. When the line of division is theological conviction, the opposing sides will be liberals and conservatives. Division along those lines makes one side eager to cast themselves as the conservatives seeking to preserve the faithfulness with liberals on the other side, diluting our theological fidelity. This line of division places the purported liberals on the defensive and is why it is common for people to assure Southern Baptists that they really are conservatives.Parallels certainly exist between the conservative resurgence and our contemporary struggle. But, in my view, it is wrong and unhelpful to identify the line of division between Southern Baptists as one of theological conviction. I don’t doubt that there are some theological liberals skulking around in search of influence. There always are. But theological liberalism is not the fundamental problem Southern Baptists are facing these days.The line dividing Southern Baptists for the last several years is not conviction, but judgment. We are split, it seems to me, not along lines of theological principle, but on matters of prudence.Let me explain.Women PastorsOne of the massive sources of disagreement over the last several years has been female pastors. Because of the clear biblical teaching forbidding women to occupy the pastoral role, this issue is the main one where issues of theological conviction are center stage.  Honesty on this issue requires us to say that there are some theological liberals among us. But even on this issue of clear biblical teaching, the main dividing line between Southern Baptists is not conviction.Our disagreements on women pastors have not mostly been about whether our convention should endorse the practice, but rather, how we can arrange our convention documents and meetings to address the existence of female pastors when they arise. The disagreement has been whether the SBC should adopt a bylaw amendment which would instruct convention committees to remove cooperating churches with female pastors, or whether the SBC should have a floor vote to remove every single church who is guilty of the practice.  During the course of the debate, each and every vote on the issue has favored the biblical teaching, reserving the office of pastor for qualified men. It has not even been close. Also, when you listen to the outspoken leaders who have opposed bylaw amendments in favor of individual floor votes, they have been at pains to make clear that they are conservative complementarians who simply believe a bylaw amendment is an ineffective way to handle the matter.Southern Baptists ought to take these people at their word. When we do, we will correctly identify our disagreement, not as one of conviction, but as one of judgment. This will lead to much more fruitful conversations and solutions. Instead of asking who the real conservatives are, we will ask, over time, whose judgment has proven to be characterized by more wisdom.When we ask that question, any fair person will have to admit that the opposition to bylaw amendments has not proven to be a wise course for Southern Baptists. Those who have urged us down this unwise course have only been effective in keeping the issue active for years longer than was necessary. Southern Baptists are realizing this and understanding that we simply cannot afford to carry on this conversation at every convention indefinitely. It is not liberalism, but a lack of wisdom, to suggest that Southern Baptists should keep talking about this from now on. It is not liberalism, but folly, to suggest that Southern Baptists should spend countless hours of precious floor time voting out churches when we know what we believe on this matter and could easily instruct a committee to do the work and save precious time for more important issues.Southern Baptists who love the Bible but resist a permanent solution to this problem are not usually liberals. But they are being foolish.Sex AbuseThe sex abuse crisis that has dominated convention life for over seven years is another example of a problem in the SBC not defined by conviction, but by judgment. Of course, there were faithless voices seeking to undermine our mission, but those voices were not usually the Southern Baptists in leadership posts responsible for making decisions.The decision makers during the sex abuse crisis were mostly men of goodwill who wanted to care for broken people and preserve our witness as a convention. They were characterized by good intentions far more than bad theology. Unfortunately, far too often, the decisions they commended were characterized by a lack of wisdom.Identifying the wrong problems and concerned to please the wrong people, they made decisions that exposed the convention to legal liability, damaged our witness, harmed our cooperation, and drained our ministries of money counted in the unknown tens of millions of dollars.Southern Baptists are learning a painful lesson here. I am making clear that the line dividing Southern Baptists is mostly the one between wisdom and folly, not mostly the one between conservatism and liberalism. But the terrible results of our foolish handling of the sex abuse crisis prove that the existence of our convention can be threatened by bad judgment just as much as it can by bad theology. When foolish decisions lead to convention-wide losses of confidence, a decrease in cooperation, millions of dollars diverted from Great-Commission causes, and serious legal jeopardy, it doesn’t help to boast about our conservative theology. Southern Baptists have learned the hard way that foolishness can be just as risky as faithlessness.  TransparencyAnother disagreement that Southern Baptists have been having lately is the one over financial transparency. Honestly, this is the one that has held the least significance for me. That is not because I don’t care about financial transparency or denominational accountability. I care about both. I also know that transparency is less important than trust.If you could only have transparency or trust, you would choose trust every time. If you trust your spouse, you can afford to be ignorant of what they’re doing when you’re not looking. On the other hand, if you cannot trust your spouse, then a transparent accounting of all the information that makes them untrustworthy will make things worse, not better.The cold, hard fact is that if Southern Baptists have a trust issue, then no amount of financial disclosures is going to restore it. That’s where this issue becomes one of judgment, not conviction. Every leader in the SBC must know that the most important commodity in spiritual leadership is trust. Once confidence begins to erode, you must fix it, or suffer the consequences.The recent history at the ERLC is a painful example of this reality. For years, ERLC leadership tried hard to convince a skeptical convention that they were truly faithful after their reservoir of trust had already run dry. Leadership stands or falls on trust. Our convention will stand or fall on trust. Leaders who wish to keep their jobs need to realize that trust is mostly their responsibility, and they must find a way to get it. A failure to understand this does not make you a liberal. It does make you unwise.Fixing the ProblemIf the problem in our convention is theological liberalism, then the solution is found in Jude 1:3, which urges Christians “To contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” If the problem in our convention is foolishness, then the solution is found in Proverbs 4:5, which says, “Get wisdom; get insight!”Colossians 2:3 proclaims that, “In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” When we come to Christ by faith, it is a guarantee that we will grow in wisdom. Southern Baptists have been growing. It is possible for us to grow even more in 2026. As we prepare for the convention in Orlando in just a few weeks, we can evaluate the statements and positions of leaders that are a matter of record.Southern Baptists should compare the statements of those who have foolishly resisted a permanent solution to the issue of women pastors to those of people who have wisely encouraged it. They should evaluate the decisions of those who unwisely pushed our convention into danger on the sex abuse crisis against those who pled for prudence. They should listen to the statements of those who wisely want to talk with candor and care about the problems we are facing, and to those whose statements suggest that all is well, and nothing needs attention.Southern Baptists should also evaluate the statements of those who have grown in wisdom over the years, have admitted where they were wrong, and are now crystal clear about how we can do better. They should carefully compare that growth in wisdom with those who refuse to admit errors in judgment in the past.After Southern Baptists carefully evaluate these statements, they need to show up in Orlando and vote for the people and the policies that are characterized by wisdom. We should make 2026 the year when we definitively close the door on foolishness and pursue wisdom. God gives a promise in Proverbs 3:13 for those who pursue wisdom, “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom and the one who gets understanding.”I am praying for our convention to find wisdom and grow in it. I have great confidence in God that we will.