Missionaries Explain Why They Won't Affirm the 2000 BF&M
By Mark Wingfield
DALLAS (ABP) -- Baptist missionary Stan Lee compares himself to British Olympic athlete Eric Liddell in the movie "Chariots of Fire."
The movie tells the story of Liddell's refusal to run in a qualifying heat for the 100-yard dash scheduled for a Sunday. The British Athletic Committee invites Liddell to visit with them about the problem so they may help him find a compromise with his beliefs on honoring the Sabbath.
One of the British officials accuses the athlete of being "impertinent," to which Liddell responds: "The impertinence, sir, lies with those who seek to influence a man to deny his beliefs."
Lee finds himself in a similar position in responding to officials with the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board, under whose appointment he serves as a missionary veterinarian, he said.
Liddell's response to the British Athletic Committee "would be my response to those who seek to 'encourage' me to sign a pledge of allegiance to the 'Baptist Faith and Message,'" Lee wrote in a letter to his IMB regional director.
Twenty years ago, when were appointed, we had to write our own confession of faith and the board reviewed it. I’ve grown a lot spiritually and in understanding since then, but my convictions haven’t changed. If they do, I’ll let them know. But I won’t sign someone else’s confession.
— Charlotte Hallock Greenhaw, Missionary to Brazil
Lee and his wife, Marlene, are members of Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. They have served as missionaries in Rwanda through the IMB since 1977, working in agricultural missions and evangelism. He is a veterinarian; she is a musician.
The Lees are among a small number of IMB missionaries beginning to speak publicly about their refusal to sign an affirmation of the 2000 "Baptist Faith and Message" as requested by IMB President Jerry Rankin. Rankin has predicted nearly all the IMB's missionaries will sign the affirmation.
His mandate has sparked an angry response from moderate and centrist Southern Baptists who say the 2000 "Baptist Faith and Message" is a denominational creed and theologically spurious. The Baptist General Convention of Texas has created a transition fund to aid IMB missionaries who resign or are fired for refusing to sign the IMB affirmation.
Rankin and other IMB officials deny they are imposing a creed. And they insist missionaries must be accountable to the doctrine established by the convention that supports them.
"I do not deny their right to know what I believe and what I teach," Lee wrote in a recent e-mail from Rwanda. "What I deny is their right to force me, on pain of losing my appointment, to sign an extra-biblical document written by men and revised three times in my lifetime."
In addition to the theological scrutiny he underwent in the appointment process 25 years ago, Lee recently wrote a 38-page statement of his beliefs. He sent that statement, along with the unsigned affirmation form, to his regional director.
"I do not allow anyone -- pastor or priest or king, relative or friend -- to think and decide for me what I will do and believe," he wrote the IMB official. "I know that ultimately I alone will have to give an account of myself before God."
Rankin has said on several occasions that he made the request of IMB missionaries to dispel the doubts of those who suspect the SBC's missionary force harbors theological liberals.
Lee accused Rankin of pandering to such accusations. "We, who have placed our lives and our careers and our futures and our children and even our grandchildren and everything we love and cherish on the line for the opportunity to bring benighted souls into the light of Christ, have been treated with contempt and accused like tax collectors and pagans," Lee wrote.
"We have been accused not face-to-face, not openly and forthrightly, but rather in secret, by men and women who, shamed as they obviously are by their actions, remain in the dark breathing out their accusations in whispers and innuendoes, threatening to cut off support but refusing to step into the light and be known."
Rankin, he charged, has "aided these spiritual terrorists." Lee said requiring missionary signatures to an affirmation of the 2000 "Baptist Faith and Message" will not put the matter to rest. "People who criticize in secret will not be satisfied if every missionary places his or her hand on his or her heart and pledges allegiance to the 'Baptist Faith and Message.' Terrorists are never satisfied." -
Lee said its is improper to require Baptists to sign a man-made document "that is obviously deficient since it has been revised so many times." While the "Baptist Faith and Message" has changed, "God's word has not changed," he added.
Similar sentiments have been expressed in a public letter written by missionaries in Asia, Sarah and Larry Belew.
In an open letter circulated via e-mail, the Belews announce they will not sign the affirmation of the 2000 "Baptist Faith and Message."
"We do not want to be fired," they wrote. But they also "do not want to participate in the political power struggles of the SBC. We do not want to be used as pawns in the game either."
The Belews listed five reasons why they cannot sign the affirmation required by Rankin:
 | "The way this document is being used is nothing short of creedalism." |
| "This document is politically motivated" and is making missionaries a "political football." |
| The 2000 "Baptist Faith and Message" is a fallible document. "We will not lower our commitment to being biblical Christians by constraining ourselves within the bounds of this document." |
| "This is a culturally biased and culturally shaped document." |
| "Jesus instructs us to take or make no oaths." |
Another IMB missionary who is still weighing how to respond to Rankin's request said he believes the burden of proof should be on the IMB if there are accusations that missionaries don't believe the Bible.
"We signed a covenant with the IMB 20 years ago, and it is their responsibility to prove that we have not kept that covenant of teaching, writing, living within the theological parameters of the SBC as well as the guidelines set up by the IMB," said the missionary, who asked not to be named at this time.
While this missionary reported feeling no pressure from his area administrators to sign the affirmation, he believes missionaries are reacting to the latest request in light of a string of changes that have occurred within the IMB in recent years.
Rankin has led the board to adopt a "New Directions" plan that emphasizes church starting and de-emphasizes mission work through institutions such as schools and hospitals. All this has increased the stress missionaries feel, the missionary reported.
"We are in yet another major change and have been in major changes since Jerry Rankin had his vision. We haven't had time to absorb the other changes the IMB has dictated to the field, and now this one comes along."
The political nature of the latest request also has deepened suspicion between some missionaries, he added. "We are afraid of being completely (open) with one another because we don't know what will be reported about us. … We are afraid to discuss it unless we are 200 percent certain we will not be misquoted."
While Rankin has said missionaries may sign the affirmation and note areas of disagreement with the 2000 "Baptist Faith and Message," this missionary doesn't see the value of such an action.
"How can you sign and say you will agree to stay within the boundaries of a document that you do not agree with?" he asked. "It means you are not being honest with yourself and your signature."
Yet this missionary said he is certain some of his colleagues who disagree with parts of the 2000 BF&M are signing the affirmation in order to keep their jobs or maintain their ministries.
"I am certain many are signing not because they agree with signing but because their kids have one to two years left in school on the field and they don't want to disrupt their lives," he explained. "They may have one to two years left until retirement and know they can't get a job at their age in the U.S. There are many who have signed without thinking about it just so they won't have to deal with any more changes."