Way to go, SBC! (HT: Pastor Anyabwile)

Wow. I just read an amazing post about a resolution that passed at the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) this week in Indianapolis. It has to do with “regenerate church membership and church member restoration” and I am SO excited for how God is working in the SBC!

You can read a great explanation here:

SBC-Indianapolis #3 – The Resolution passes

But for those of you with a heart for biblical peacemaking who KNOW that the encouragement, accountability, and discipline of the local church is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY for our efforts to “keep the unity of the Spirit through the bonds of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3), I bet some of the wording will encourage you too:

“RESOLVED that we urge the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention to repent of the any failure among us to live up to our professed commitment to regenerate church membership and any failure to obey Jesus Christ in the practice of lovingly correcting wayward church members (Matthew 18:15-18 ), and be it further

RESOLVED that we humbly encourage denominational servants to support and encourage churches that seek to recover and implement our Savior’s teachings on church discipline, even if such efforts result in the reduction in the number of members that are reported in those churches …”

Wow! Preach it, SBC!

And hear the words of another great SBC theologian, Dr. David Dockery:

“We need to repent of our lack of concern for biblical faithfulness in our concern and care for church members,” he said. “We need to repent of the way the way we often allow people to join local churches without stressing the covenantal aspect of membership. We need to repent of the fact that we have largely neglected any aspect of church discipline that would have helped us begin to address some of these matters.”

Thank God for His work through the SBC! (And thanks to Pastor Anybwile for pointing this out on his wonderful blog.)