As a church, we are exploring the possibility of joining the Southern Baptist Convention to link arms with local and global like-minded churches. We understand this is a significant decision, one we do not take lightly. For complete transparency, we, as your pastors, have been praying and talking through this possibility for years now.

As we’ve weighed this decision, we understand that a sense of freedom comes from not being associated with a denomination because of the unwanted baggage that comes from it. Therefore, we want to be clear on the implications of this decision for our church, and we want to invite you to pray through this decision with us.

WHAT IS THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION?

According to their website, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is “a fellowship of nearly 47,000 Baptist churches scattered across the United States and its territories. These congregations, comprised of numerous racial, ethnic, language, and socioeconomic people groups, are called ‘cooperating churches.’ They have organized themselves to accomplish a specific set of missions and ministry initiatives, all for the purpose of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all people everywhere.”

That’s a lot of words. So, put more simply, the SBC is a network of autonomous churches that voluntarily cooperate to advance the Gospel. This means that while the SBC provides resources and leadership, it does not govern individual churches. Each congregation is autonomous, making its own decisions regarding leadership, finances, and ministry direction. The SBC is a cooperation of churches, meaning churches voluntarily cooperate to support mission efforts, theological education, and ministry outreach through giving and participation in SBC initiatives.

Mission support. Regarding mission support, there are two avenues in which the SBC supports: the International Mission Board (IMB) and the North American Mission Board (NAMB). These two entities exist to “assist churches in evangelizing, discipling, and planting reproducing churches in our nation and around the world in fulfillment of the Great Commission.”

The IMB primarily assists SBC churches in being on a mission with God to penetrate the unevangelized world outside the United States and Canada with the gospel and make Christ known among all people. Simply put, the IMB exists to get the gospel to people who have never heard the gospel.

Likewise, the NAMB exists to work with churches, associations, and state conventions in mobilizing Southern Baptists as a missional force to impact North America with the gospel of Jesus Christ through evangelism and church planting.” Simply put, the NAMB exists to help equip churches in North America to be on mission in their own communities and across the continent.

Theological education. The Southern Baptist Convention owns six seminaries in the United States and partners with one in Canada to provide theological education and ministerial training to prepare men and women to take the gospel down the street and around the world. Those six seminaries are Gateway, Midwestern, New Orleans Baptist Theological, Southeastern Baptist Theological, Southern Baptist, and Southwestern Baptist Theological. This cooperation helps provide scholarships to offset the cost of education for those called to pursue ministerial studies at schools such as The University of Mobile. Because of the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptist seminaries are very affordable. Tuition is usually about one-half of the rate charged by independent seminaries and much less than charged by public or private universities. In addition, SBC seminaries offer generous need-based scholarship programs to help fund your preparation for ministry leadership.

Lifeway Christian Resources is also an entity of the SBC which seeks to serve the changing needs of the church. From Bibles and Bible studies to church supplies, camps, and events, Lifeway seeks to care for the needs of the local church. Although not funded by the SBC— it is self-funded through the sales of its products— Lifeway Christian Resources is an entity of it.

Ministry outreach. The NAMB and state convention partners organize Southern Baptists’ response to disasters. They contribute manpower, ministry, and financial help during floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, earthquakes, and urban disasters. In addition to disaster relief, the Baptist Coalition for Children and Families represents twenty-one ministries established by state Baptist conventions to serve at-risk children and their families through residential care, counseling, foster care enlistment, and adoption assistance.

WHAT DOES A COOPERATION OF CHURCHES LOOK LIKE?

The SBC prides itself on being a cooperation of local churches. Therefore, the SBC can be structured around three key organizational levels: local churches, the associational level, the state convention, and the national level.

Local level. Each SBC church is self-governed and operates independently. This means each local church is its own decision maker. Each church selects its own pastors, handles its own finances, owns its own property, and determines its own doctrinal and ministry priorities (within the broad framework of Baptist beliefs found within the Baptist Faith and Message). Each church will primarily contribute to SBC missions and ministries through the Cooperative Program.

Local Association. We would partner with the Mobile Baptist Association, a group of local churches that work together for mutual support, training, and local missions. These associations have minimal authority as they exist as a network of support for local missions, training, and outreach.

State convention. Likewise, we would be associated with the Alabama Baptist Convention, which coordinates ministries within our specific state. This convention provides church leadership training, evangelism tools, and a Bible study curriculum.

National level. This level cooperates to oversee national and international missions and ministries such as the IMB, NAMB, SBC seminaries, and Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC).

WHY WOULD WE WANT TO JOIN THE SBC?

Financial support for the health of the global church. As we say frequently from the pulpit, we are a [b]ody that is a part of the [B]ody of Christ. Therefore, it should be a joy to collectively lock arms financially with other churches in a humble attempt to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Opens up doors to potential internship opportunities with the University of Mobile one day. The University of Mobile (UM) is full of students who desire to one day serve a church full-time in a vocational manner. Being a part of the SBC would, therefore, open up doors for students to intern with us to assist in various ways in the church (worship, youth, kids, local missions, etc.). The hope would be to offer students valuable ministry experience at Harbor while also earning school credit at UM.

Educational support for church members. We have several members of our local body who are either currently pursuing an education at one of the above colleges or are heavily considering it. If we were members of the SBC, these members will be afforded additional financial support at these colleges.

Missional support and training for our members. As we’ve assessed our church's strengths and weaknesses, we feel global missions is an area we could improve. Therefore, the SBC’s devotion to getting the gospel to people who have never heard it through the IMB and NAMB could open up opportunities for us to be more missional in the future. The IMB provides an unbelievable amount of training and support for aspiring missionaries (journeyman program, missions residencies, and mission trips). So, if we aspire to be a church that sends our people out into the world to make disciples of Jesus, then we would be wise to tap into the IMB’s resources.

Partner with other like-minded churches locally. If we are a [b]ody that’s a part of the [B]ody of Christ, then we are not in competition with other churches in the area. Being a part of a non-denomination church has a ton of benefits, a ton of pros. But it also comes with its own cons, one of those being loneliness. At times it feels like we’re living in a city with friends, but no family. Obviously, we are a family at Harbor. Please do not hear me say that we aren’t! But, being a part of the SBC at the local level could open up opportunities for us as a family to be a part of a larger family, which could hopefully open up opportunities for our pastors, staff, and members to better serve alongside our brothers and sisters in Mobile.

Future location or permanent home. The Lord has been gracious to us at Harbor by opening up a door at Dumas Wesley. We are precisely where we are supposed to be right now for the good of our city and the glory of Jesus, and we want to be faithful where the Lord has us. With an honest desire of our heart to own a location we could one day call our own, where we could freely host events and serve our community, partnering with SBC churches in our area could be a path to this in the future. As I’ve watched other church plants in our city serve alongside other churches in their denomination, I’ve witnessed their denomination work hard alongside them in finding their own location. Two of these church plants (Grace Table and Christ Redeemer) were gifted a church building by other churches in their denomination. So, partnering with the SBC could potentially help us find a permanent location.

WHY WE WOULD NOT WANT TO JOIN THE SBC?

Although one of the most significant benefits of joining the SBC is being able to lock arms with like-minded churches, we believe one of the greatest downfalls is locking arms with not-so-like-minded churches. In 2022, there was an investigation performed by reporters that stated hundreds of Southern Baptist Convention church leaders and volunteers had been criminally charged with sex crimes since 2000. The report also detailed numerous incidents in which denominational leaders mishandled, ignored, or concealed warnings that predators were targeting SBC churches. The Guidepost investigation suggests that SBC leaders resisted reforms to track or address abuse, kept a secret list of accused abusers while claiming they had no power to act, and showed more concern for avoiding legal liability than for protecting victims.

You can find more details of the Guidepost report here, as well as the SBC’s response here.

If I could summarize the heart of the issue down to one point, it would be this: church autonomy can be both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because it allows healthy churches the freedom to operate independently with minimal oversight from the denomination. But, it can also be a curse because it allows unhealthy churches the freedom to operate independently with minimal oversight from the denomination. Church autonomy can make accountability difficult to enforce. So, as we weigh the potential of locking arms with this denomination, we must consider the question, “Is this a partnership worth pursuing?”

WHAT WOULD/WOULD NOT CHANGE IF WE JOINED THE SBC?

Giving will change. We will allot a small portion of our budget each year to the SBC. That number will be determined later, but it can be between $500 and $5,000 a year. For context, another local church plant in our city gives $500 a year.

Our name, branding, and church polity will not change. Our website, church name, branding, church polity, etc., will remain the same. As mentioned above, each local church is its own decision makers. So, there will be no pressure to make any changes in this regard.

The core beliefs of the church will not change. You can review the Baptist Faith and Message here and our church’s core beliefs here. Upon review, you will see that there is nothing the SBC embraces doctrinally that we would not embrace at Harbor.

Now! Regarding this topic, it would be important to note that if something were to change in the future regarding the SBC’s core beliefs, we would be free to leave the convention at any time, and if we were to leave the SBC in the future, we would not be required to pay any additional fees, nor would we lose any assets. In a Baptist News article highlighting the differences between denominations, Mallory Challis and Mark Wingfield write, “When a church wants to change its affiliation, there is no authority dictating how or when that church can do so, no guidelines to follow, no exit fees to pay… Because the SBC does not own any church’s buildings or properties, any church can maintain its spaces when it leaves or is expelled. There is no change. Nor is there any change in ordination status for that church’s clergy, because ordination in most Baptist traditions happens at the local church level, not at the denominational level.”

We will send one or two members each year to be a representative at the annual convention. This is a yearly gathering of messengers from SBC churches across the country to conduct the denominations business, elect leaders, and make decisions about the conventions direction.