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Okla. directors of missions underscore support for SBC statement of beliefs

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OKLAHOMA CITY (BP)–The Fellowship of Associational Directors of Missions of Oklahoma adopted a resolution Aug. 25 supporting the Southern Baptist Convention’s 2000 Baptist Faith and Message.

The overwhelming majority of the directors of missions in attendance at their meeting in Oklahoma City voted for the resolution affirming the SBC’s statement of beliefs.

The Oklahoma DOM group joins a number of local Baptist associations and churches that also have affirmed the SBC’s doctrinal convictions, including Henderson Southern Baptist Association in Texas and three key churches in the state, First Baptist and Prestonwood in Dallas and First Baptist, Pampa.

Tom Owens, president of the Oklahoma DOMs’ fellowship and director of missions for the Cimarron Baptist Association, stated after the adoption of the resolution, “The heart of this issue lies in the first paragraphs of the Baptist Faith and Message [2000 edition] relating to Scripture.

“If we lose the ability to state the commonly held beliefs among Southern Baptists, then we have lost the basis for our evangelism. We would have no message left,” Owens said.

The 2000 Baptist Faith and Message article on Scripture states:

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“The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.”

The Oklahoma DOM group discussed that, as with all resolutions in Baptist circles, the resolution is non-binding on any other group and is simply a consensus of opinion by the majority of those present at the meeting. Also noted was the historical fact that Baptist associations are where most theological issues are discussed.

The Oklahoma DOMs’ resolution specifically commends the work of the study committee which developed the revised Baptist Faith and Message, which was adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention June 14 in Orlando, Fla. The DOMs’ resolution encourages pastors and members of churches to “consider seriously the adoption of the June 14 edition as their generally accepted confession of faith.”

The Oklahoma resolution reads:

“WHEREAS the Southern Baptist Convention on June 14, 2000 adopted the Report of the Baptist Faith and Message Study Committee, and

“WHEREAS the Baptist Faith and Message has been the generally accepted guideline for the doctrinal position of Southern Baptist churches setting forth ‘certain definite doctrines that Baptists believe, cherish, and with which they have been and are now closely identified,’ and

“WHEREAS the Baptist Faith and Message is a confessional statement reflecting the truth that the Bible — the sixty-six books of the closed canon of the Old and New Testaments — is fully inspired by God and ‘totally true and trustworthy,’ and

“WHEREAS a Southern Baptist Church can only be strengthened by ‘endeavoring to state for its time and theological climate those articles of the Christian faith which are most surely held among us,’

“BE IT RESOLVED that the Directors of Missions in Oklahoma in their regularly scheduled meeting, August 25, 2000, in Oklahoma City, go on record as supporting the June 14, 2000 edition of the Baptist Faith and Message, and particularly article I, The Scripture, and

“BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Directors of Missions in Oklahoma commend the work of Dr. Adrian Rogers and the other members of the committee which studied the 1963 edition of the Baptist Faith and Message and recommended the June 14, 2000 edition and

“BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the Directors of Missions in Oklahoma encourage the pastors and members of the churches to consider seriously the adoption of the June 14, 2000 edition as their generally accepted confession of faith.”
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