My 5 theses for the Baptist Union of Southern Africa
In reply to a recent post about how the Baptist Union of Southern Africa could learn a few things from the hard words Mark Driscoll brought to the Anglican Church in Sydney, Stephen asked my opinion on what the major problems within the BU are.
So, instead of simply replying to his comment, I thought I would write a post about my view of the biggest problems within the BU…
!! baptists of South Africa take note !!
The blogs I read are a buzz with chatter about the hard words Mark Driscoll brought to the Anglican church in Sydney at a recent conference. I can understand some of the criticisms against what Mark had to say but I have to applaud his bravery for saying it as he sees it!
(Find a summary here. Scroll to “talk 2″ for the 18 points of criticism he brought)
I have a deep stirring in my heart that many church denominations all over the world need to hear hard words like these spoken into their context. And I can’t think of a group that needs to hear it more than our own Baptist Union of Southern Africa. I am not saying that everything he said about the Anglican church in Australia applies to the BU, but rather that we too need a hard, honest and clear evaluation of this sort. Where are the apostles of the BU, who can call our Union back to the heart of God?
We have become very good at maintaining the status quo to avoid offending those who are standing in the way of much needed change but we are weak at mobilizing our churches to be effective missional communities that are changing lives with the gospel and changing culture through God given influence.
Sometimes it does not matter so much whether every little detail of what is said is accurate but rather that the message hits home! The church in South Africa needs to wake up, today as never before we have the chance to turn this country upside down with the message of TRUTH and real compassion in action!
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