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HUNTSVILLE, Ala.–The practice of tongues and so-called prayer languages, as well as baptism from fellowships that are not of like doctrine with Southern Baptists, will likely disqualify missionary candidates applying to the International Mission Board, according to new IMB policies and guidelines.
In addition to the new personnel criteria, the IMB trustees, meeting in Huntsville, Ala., Nov. 14-15, also appointed 89 new overseas missionaries and approved a slightly reduced budget described as an exercise in “good stewardship.”
The IMB trustees adopted the personnel criteria after over two years of extensive study of how missionary candidates are evaluated regarding the practice of tongues and baptism. The debate ended Nov. 15 with the majority of trustees approving measures to assist staff in assessing missionary candidates.
While a few trustees appealed to the board for latitude regarding claims to a private prayer language and the use of tongues–what theologians term glossolalia–the majority voted by a 50-15 margin to regard those practicing a prayer language or tongues as unqualified for missionary service with the IMB.
One trustee cautioned against a ruling that would appear to judge the legitimacy of private prayer language while another insisted that defending subjective, “non-verbal, conceptual” prayer falls outside biblical parameters.
The call to examine a candidate’s baptismal experience resulted from concerns that some candidates might be commissioned without ever having been immersed in what Southern Baptists and other like-minded congregations view as “believer’s baptism.”
Two-thirds of the trustee body voted in favor of requiring greater scrutiny of a candidate’s baptism, allowing more flexibility by calling them “guidelines,” while the board’s action regarding prayer language and tongues is considered “policy.”
Both measures include an exception clause so that staff and trustees can review appeals.
TIGHTER ’06 BUDGET
Trustees unanimously approved a $282.5 million budget for 2006, representing a decrease of $600,000 over 2005 and “good stewardship” in the words of trustee Ken Whitten of Tampa, Fla.
Included is an additional $1.1 million to bring hourly employees in line with market wages, and merit pay for some salaried employees. Raises for executive administrators were discussed and approved in a brief closed session. The IMB in unique among SBC entities in disclosing its salary structure to Southern Baptists, a policy that drew praise from trustees during the Administration Committee meeting.
Finance committee vice-chairman A. C. Halsell of Plano said, “Baptists get more spirited when we talk about money,” offering an overview of anticipated IMB budget expenditures. He explained that the Cooperative Program accounts for 35.47 percent of next year’s budget, anticipating a slight increase in the undesignated funds allocated from Southern Baptist churches according to a formula approved by SBC messengers that gives the IMB half of those receipts.
Reiterating a concern expressed by IMB Vice President David Steverson, Halsell told the board, “I think we need to realize there is a possibility that both the Cooperative Program and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering could be less this year because of [contributions to] hurricane relief.”
He added, “We’ve actually lost churches [due to the hurricane] that would contribute to this offering, had some CP funds that were overage diverted by SBC [Executive Committee] for hurricane relief, as well as donor fatigue.”
In his report to the board and in addressing new personnel, IMB President Jerry Rankin celebrated the additional 137 people groups that IMB missionaries engaged with the gospel last year. Even with that increase, Rankin said the number of unreached groups of more than 100,000 people is increasing as world population grows.
He praised the example of the Alabama Baptist Convention as one of the strongest supporters of the Cooperative Program and thanked Woman’s Missionary Union Executive Director Wanda Lee of Birmingham for her presence. The state convention’s annual meeting was held concurrently with the IMB missionary appointment services Nov. 15 in Huntsville.
“This is one of the largest states in terms of sending missionaries and volunteers in partnership,” Rankin stated.
He commended other state conventions, including the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, for partnering with the IMB to embrace an Acts 1:8 strategy for reaching the world.
MISSIONARIES APPOINTED
The board approved 89 missionary candidates for appointment, including Laurelle and Alan Stoudenmire of Alabama, who will serve overseas in their retirement years. She ended her tenure as a trustee, expressing appreciation for the program whereby they “don’t have to be put on the shelf after 50 or 60 years.” Thirty-four of the new missionaries have Texas ties.
A March 20-22 appointment service at Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa will serve as a prototype for planned “Global Impact Celebration” services, which aim to increase churches’ understanding and participation in Southern Baptist missions, Rankin said. Similar combined events are planned in Spartanburg, S.C., Memphis, Tenn., and Southern California.
Trustees collectively pledged $114,016 for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, with participation from the entire board.
TONGUES/PRAYER LANGUAGE
After more than half an hour of discussion on prayer language, tongues and baptism, the board approved as policy a memorandum titled “Guidelines Regarding Tongues and Prayer Language for Candidates,” which the trustees’ Personnel Committee passed last May.
The committee’s action in May was to help those who consult missionary candidates assess their doctrinal qualifications. Previously, the board determined that clarification was needed because candidates were being evaluated inconsistently.
After trustee Jerry Corbaley of California presented a paper titled “Regarding Speaking in Tongues, the Interpretation of Such and ‘Prayer Language,'” the Mission Personnel Committee assigned the task of studying the issue to the six-member Process Review Committee.
PRC chairman John Floyd of Tennessee assigned two-member groups to each study particular issues–namely, baptism, private prayer language and missionary qualifications.
Floyd said the group drew information from the IMB president, staff and Personnel Committee members, in addition to soliciting advice from the Southern Baptist Council of Seminary Presidents and reviewing the North American Mission Board’s personnel policy relating to charismatic practices.
Before introducing Floyd, IMB trustee chairman Thomas Hatley of Arkansas explained that when the guidelines were passed last May he assumed the Personnel Committee had the authority to implement the guidelines. He noted, however, that the IMB’s lawyer determined that the trustees had never delegated that responsibility.
In an overview distributed in advance to acquaint new trustees with background on the proposal, Floyd said Rankin related at the July meeting that he preferred the guidelines be treated as policies and that the whole board make the decision rather than the Personnel Committee alone.
Interviewed by the TEXAN after the recent meeting, Rankin said the concern he expressed in July was that if the newly adopted guidelines were to be used with missionary candidates, then he felt the full board ought to express that through formal action.
“The heart of these issues is the candidate qualification known as ‘Southern Baptist Identity,'” according to a preface statement to the guidelines obtained by the TEXAN.
Candidates were already required to be committed to and identified with Southern Baptist, convictionally hold to the Baptist Faith and Message and have current membership in an SBC church. Other elements of candidate qualifications address Southern Baptist identity with reference to views held by “the majority of Southern Baptist churches.”
The preface statement further clarified that IMB policies and guidelines are based on God’s Word, the SBC constitution and specific job descriptions for personnel, and reflect the practice of the vast majority of Southern Baptists.
“Charismatic practices are discouraged in the vast majority of our Southern Baptist churches because of the confusion they generate,” the statement concluded.
Trustee Allen McWhite of South Carolina spoke against the recommendation, stating, “Among our Southern Baptist constituency, not to mention the larger evangelical community, I think there are very honest differences of opinion on the issue of a private prayer language.”
While familiar with the material distributed by Floyd that made the case for a private prayer language being unscriptural, McWhite said the writings of others offer a different interpretation.
“We’re going to make a mistake in making a determination that one interpretation is absolutely correct while not allowing for differences. I do think this will have an impact on our candidates coming through,” he added, noting that it may not be a large number who fall into the category of practicing a private prayer language, “but there are some who would otherwise be very qualified.”
McWhite further stated that “a very clear policy” is in place “to deal with abuses of any of the charismatic gifts” that would result in termination, including tongues, healing or “any other doctrine elevated as normative or projected as evidence of a greater degree of spirituality, he said. “I just want to recognize the diversity on the part of honest conservative interpreters of Scripture who would differ on this and caution against making a ruling that would say some interpretation was invalid.”
The newly implemented policy affecting future candidates notes that the New Testament speaks of a gift of glossolalia generally considered to be a legitimate language of some people group, noting specific uses and conditions for its exercise in public worship.
“In terms of worship practices, the majority of Southern Baptist churches do not practice glossolalia,” the statement reads.
A prayer language as commonly expressed by practitioners is not the same as the biblical use of glossolalia, it further states.
Noting Paul’s teaching that prayer is to be made with understanding, any spiritual experience is to be tested by the Scriptures, the statement says. And since the majority of Southern Baptists do not accept “private prayer language,” candidates espousing such eliminate themselves from consideration for appointment, according to the statement.
Turstee Kevin King of Colorado encouraged trustees to hear the counsel of seminary presidents, who had advised on the matter, to regard a private prayer language as outside a normal understanding of relevant passages. King thanked Rankin for explaining his own views through e-mail, correspondence and phone conversations.
“I don’t say this to be inflammatory or as a breach of peace, but the position that a non-rational, non-verbal, conceptual mode of communication is biblically normative I find to be outside of Scripture and would welcome an explanation on how that would fit in with biblical parameters.”
Trustee Rick Thompson of Oklahoma asked what seminary presidents had said about the other discussion on baptism, adding that greater division had occurred in the Personnel Committee over that guideline.
“Our committee was not fully in agreement about what this meant,” he added, appealing for more thought and prayer even though some “are probably sick of hearing about it and want to get on with it.” Thompson, a first-year trustee, felt new trustees needed more time to “digest the information” and expressed surprise ove the possibility of including an exception clause.
“This was a new thing for me to learn within the verbiage of a policy that we could have more flexibility,” Thompson said. “I would like us to think through how that exception can work in this situation. I just found out about that this morning.”
Corbaley objected, stating, “Two years of in-depth investigation and weighing the issues and bringing the largest committee of our trustee board along is adequate for Southern Baptists to trust.”
After Oklahoma trustee Wade Burleson received confirmation that the exception clause was included in both recommendations, Hatley explained, “Instead of them just granting that as they have in the past, they (staff) will send it on for review by the larger Process Review Committee or by staff and PRC together.”
Trustee Bob Pearle of Texas praised the diligence of the committee over a long period of time, adding that staff preferred the passage of guidelines rather than policies in order to provide “more wiggle room.”
Ultimately, he said, “That did not seem to satisfy. At the request and insistence of our president who wanted it as a policy, it’s coming back as a policy for the entire body to vote on.”
In supporting the recommendation regarding a private prayer language, Pearle said, “Southern Baptists, as a rule, are going to say we are opposed to speaking in tongues.” He called the reference to “a private prayer language” a politically correct way to avoid using the term glossolalia. Regardless of the label, he said, “It is, in fact, speaking in tongues and that is not what we historically as Southern Baptists have stood for. This policy will put us in sync with the other mission-sending agency of the Southern Baptist Convention—the North American Mission Board.”
Quoting from NAMB’s personnel policy, Pearle read, “No person who is actively participating in or promoting glossolalia shall be appointed, approved or endorsed by NAMB. This includes having a private prayer language.”
“If this is rejected, Pearle argued, “I fear this board then would be rightly or wrongly perceived by the people who sent us here as endorsing tongues. I fear that it could possibly come up at the Southern Baptist Convention that we have a board that is endorsing tongues.”
Instead of risking such a response next June at the annual meeting, Pearle urged adoption of the glossolalia recommendation in order to state the IMB position “in clear language.”
Trustee Wayne Marshall of Mississippi called for a vote, stating, “We’ve had two months and were encouraged to look through this theologically and every other way as individuals. Even new people, if they took it seriously, went home and did their homework. We should all have done that,” he insisted.
Trustee Bill Sutton sought a roll call vote, gaining support from several fellow Texans who felt board members should state their opinion on the record. After the effort failed, Texas trustee Louis Moore asked for the option of recording how he voted.
“If the convention gets involved in this, I want it clearly stated that I’m going to vote ‘Yes.’”
BAPTISM GUIDELINES
While the vote to approve the previously offered guidelines on baptism prompted less debate, speakers firmly stated their opinions. Trustee Winston Curtis of Oklahoma said the division that occurred in committee involved whether a guideline or a policy would be the best approach.
“It may have appeared to be divisive, but was not divisive concerning the issues themselves. I believe it is the right thing to do for us as Southern Baptists.”
Burleson said he found the language on baptism “unconscionable” because it puts the IMB in a position of telling a candidate he is not qualified to be a missionary even if his church approved him for membership, requiring re-baptism. He cited the example of a converted Muslim who was baptized in the Jordan River and was accepted for membership after being examined by the church. “He affirmed our doctrinal statement of the Baptist Faith and Message,” Burleson related, and is applying with the IMB to be a missionary.
“It is unconscionable to me that as a member of my church, with his baptism examined and scripturally baptized that this board may take the position that he is not and he must come back to me and baptized in my church. To me that violates every principle of the autonomy of the local church and what we believe to be biblical, scriptural baptism.”
Corbaley responded, “There is the repeated misunderstanding that the board would be imposing its will on other Christian organizations such as the local church.”
He said Christians who affiliate with a church must abide by the congregation’s perspective on baptism even if it is different from the last church.
“It does not go retroactive to the previous church and require that they agree. We are simply attempting to set a policy that must be set somewhere for the International Mission Board. It does not require any local church to comply. It does require Christians who wish to affiliate with this organization to cooperate with this organization.”
Candidates are to examined in light of the BF&M statement, discussing whether baptism was by immersion following salvation; a symbolic picture of the experience of the believer’s death to sin and resurrection to a new life in Christ; and not meritorious in any way for salvation.
According to the guidelines, baptism should take place in a church that holds to these views and embraces eternal security of believers.
A candidate who has not been baptized in a Southern Baptist church or a church that meets these doctrinal standards is expected to request baptism in his or her Southern Baptist church as testimony of identifying with such beliefs.
After the recommendations passed, Hatley asked trustees to bathe their actions in humility.
“There is no need in leaving with any kind of spirit of pride. It’s been a humiliating process to go through, but I’m grateful to the Lord for finally reaching conclusion on some things.”
The January trustee meeting will be held in Richmond, Va.
