And they did:
Nobody expected Rick Warren’s appeal to be successful—not even Rick Warren. But he still stood up in front of 13,000 Southern Baptists gathered in New Orleans to make his case.
“No one is asking any Southern Baptist to change their theology! I’m not asking you to agree with my church,” he insisted, reading from a printout at a microphone on the floor of the convention hall during a three-minute speech. “I am asking you to act like a Southern Baptist, who have historically agreed to disagree on dozens of doctrines, in order to act on a common mission.”
For messengers at the SBC annual meeting, employing women pastors was not an agree-to-disagree issue. A vast majority—88 percent—voted to uphold the decision made back in February to disfellowship Saddleback.
Southern Baptists Reject Rick Warren’s Saddleback Appeal
The blunt truth of the matter is that large churches like Saddleback really don’t need a denomination to thrive. These days denominations generally exist to support their medium and small size churches. The fact that the SBC has several large churches in its stable is a testament to a century and a half of evangelisation and organisation. Whether it’s going to be able to use either or both to break out of its ethnocentric and respectability trap and reach out again in a meaningful way is a whole different issue.
It’s worth noting that many of the churches which have defected to the Global Methodist Church are the UMC’s larger churches. Although denominations primary serve their medium and small size churches, they need their larger churches for financial reasons. Given their structure and strength, the SBC, IMHO, is in a better position to survive the loss of one large church like Saddleback than the Methodists several.
Rick Warren and his church should have taken their defenestration like Markov and moved on. But he instead chose to waste his time–and ours–on making himself and his church the issue.
Positive Infinity 