The SBC annual meeting feels like a big family reunion or holiday gathering each year. We travel to a location where most of us do not live, eat meals together, talk for hours on end, and catch up on each others’ lives. Inevitably, at such get-togethers, you find out that one of your distant relatives has changed jobs to something that you cannot explain. That’s a little how I felt at this year’s annual meeting.
When friends first heard that I had been elected as the new president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, they called and texted to offer a word of congratulations and then asked me, “What does the ERLC do?” I was that distant cousin with a new job that no one knew how to describe.
Key points of the ERLC’s mission
The question of what the ERLC does has been a common theme over the last couple of months and one that I have sought to address. At this year’s annual meeting, this is I how I answered the question: The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission serves the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention by resourcing and training pastors, church leaders, and members to address the most difficult moral problems they face in their communities. In addition, we advocate for public policy on issues that the Southern Baptist Convention cares deeply about. Our four primary areas of focus are life, religious liberty, marriage and family, and human dignity.
Let me emphasize a few key points of our mission for clarity’s sake.
First, the ERLC is here to serve the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention. The ERLC regularly receives requests from organizations outside the SBC to advocate for policies, address moral questions, or sign on to court briefs. Before joining with these organizations, we have to weigh each request against the actions of the Convention. While such requests are encouraging because other organizations believe our voice matters, our primary audience is the churches of our Convention.
However, this does not always make our work easy because we are not always unified in our opinions. As I like to say, wherever two or three Baptists are gathered, there are at least half a dozen opinions in their midst. But maintaining the primary audience of our churches does give us purpose and direction for our mission. If we cannot connect a policy or decision directly back to our churches, then we are going to pass on that issue.
Second, our primary mission is to resource churches. Over the last several years, the ERLC has produced a number of church guides to assist leaders in addressing important moral questions. Recent guides have focused on assisted reproductive technologies, gambling, and civic engagement. These guides provide a biblical and theological foundation on a particular topic and then walk through numerous practical scenarios that churches may face. We had several of these guides available at the annual meeting, but all of them can be found on our website to order or to download for free.
Third, as we advocate for policy in the public square, we will do so with the purpose of connecting it to our churches. There are practically an unlimited number of policies that we could advocate for if we chose to engage everything in Washington, D.C. However, not all policies connect to the concerns of the SBC. For that reason, we intentionally limit the types of policies that we address. In order to decide which ones to undertake, we come back to our four primary areas of focus: life, religious liberty, marriage and family, and human dignity.
In addition, we are guided by three main sources in choosing policies to advocate for and moral questions to address.
- First, we turn to Scripture for guidance. Southern Baptists are a people of the Word. This is never more clear than when we gather at the annual meeting, not only to do business but also to worship together through hearing God’s Word.
- Second, we appeal to the Baptist Faith and Message for direction in how to address difficult matters. This confession serves as a unifying document to communicate what Southern Baptists believe.
- Third, we look to the actions of the messengers at our various annual meetings. This includes motions, resolutions, and recommendations that give further guidance and clarity to Scripture and the BF&M. While no single motion, resolution, or recommendation shapes all of our priorities, the trajectory of these actions over time helps determine what issues we will address.
There is no doubt that Southern Baptists work best when we cooperate for a common mission—the spread of the gospel. This is the core of our existence. But we also cooperate together through the ERLC to aid one another in addressing moral issues and in having a unified, effective voice in the public square. Our most recent annual meeting was a clear reminder to me that we have a wonderful family of churches that make up our Convention, and I am excited about working with churches throughout the SBC to make Christ known across the street and around the world.
