In a little less than a week, Southern Baptists will be in Orlando for our Annual Meeting. It looks like the big issue will be over a proposed amendment that will further define what women can and cannot do in the local church. (The “cannot” list is longer, but I digress.)
My take on what’s coming is shaped mostly by social media, especially Twitter. (I know, X. But this “seasoned” Southern Baptist is still adjusting, cut me some slack.) From what I see there, there’s quite a difference in the overall tenor of posts and comments.
Those in favor of the amendment are mostly caustic and passive aggressive. Folks opposed appear to be more measured, thoughtful, and analytical. Of course, I’m only one of many, and the algorithms that generate my feed may be very different from others.
But IF the way I’m seeing this is indeed the way it is, one could easily conclude that those in favor are on the wrong side of…well, many things. The sad thing is, this is a battle of brothers. The agreements among us far outnumber the disagreements. Furthermore, most of our disagreements are rooted in biblical interpretation, not biblical authority.
I hope I’m wrong about this next part: this Annual Meeting will be very contentious. The contest will end with a losing side and a winning side. The winning side’s victory celebration may be gloating ridicule or conciliatory affirmation.
Regardless of all that, the biggest loser will be us-all of us. No matter how all this plays out, a watching world will walk away shaking their heads and chuckling. I can almost hear one of them saying, “Yup. Count on the SBC Annual Meeting to put on some good, mindless entertainment — pure WWE‑style theater.”
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