The Cooperative Baptist
Fellowship will meet for its 20th annual meeting in Tampa this
month. Many of us have been part of the
CBF initiative from the beginning, even though our employers at the time may
have frowned upon it (but that is a story for another time). A 14 member task force is in the process of
gathering input on the future of CBF.
They are attempting to address these questions:
- What is the best model of community that fosters missional collaboration rather than competition for resources?
- How can we refocus and streamline organizational structures in order to provide leadership and resources for churches and other ministries to respond more effectively to global challenges?
- How do we help Baptist churches and organizations embrace their identity as partners with this community?
In his blog, Seth Godin recently
pointed out the differences of an organization, a movement, and a philosophy. He says that “an organization uses structure
and resources and power to make things happen.”
Movements may use an organization, but they are much more tied to
emotion. He points out that “movements
are more likely to cause widespread change, and they require leaders, not
managers.” A philosophy is harder to pin
down. He suggests that “a philosophy can
survive things that might wipe out a movement and that would decimate an
organization.” A philosophy may ebb and
flow, go underground for awhile, and then emerge with new approaches and
leaders.
His key point is this: “The trouble kicks in when you think you have
one and you actually have the other.”
So what is CBF? It certainly started out as a philosophy (perhaps
even a theology) that many could buy into at some level. My personal perception is that CBF moved
pretty quickly through the movement phase to an organization that attempted to
do more than it was capable of doing because it believed that it had stronger
grass roots support than it actually did.
Those who could at least assent to a philosophy and were enchanted by a
movement were not really ready to do everything that the organization attempted
to provide. Many of those who attended
early meetings did not or could not follow through.
Let me share a personal example
of overreaching. In the late 1990s, many
within the CBF family said that what we really needed were new churches. A few “splits” had successfully evolved into
self-sustaining congregations. Some of
us in leadership believed those who carried the “church starting” banner. The
Tennessee Cooperative Baptist Fellowship launched into an ambitious initiative to
plant new churches. We invested a lot of
time and money into that effort. At the
end of the day, we could point to only one viable congregation that came out of
all the work. Each attempt that failed
had its own story and its own lessons to learn.
At the end of the day, however, we overreached because we believed our
support was deeper than it actually was.
My concern for the future of CBF
is that many will express their hopes, dreams, and expectations but that few
will step up and help to make these become a reality. I hope that many will provide input to the
Task Force but that they will then be ready to provide the support to make
these goals come to fruition. It is one
thing to build castles in the air; it is another to turn them into reality. A philosophy will inspire us, a movement will
energize us, but an organization needs people who will invest themselves on a
daily basis.
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