Moderates' mission

Christian Century, Sept 11, 2002 by David F. D'Amico

JIM JONES'S "Moderates unite?" (Aug. 14-27) provides an accurate description of the challenges facing Baptists who have distanced themselves from the Southern Baptist Convention.

Another denomination will not satisfy the vision and needs of congregations that are more interested in becoming "missional churches" than in being franchises of a monolithic structure. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, by the commitment of the majority of its followers and by its budget, devotes 75 percent to missions and 25 percent to other ministries.

Those of us who have embraced the CBF acknowledge that while some declare that it is still in the wilderness, others believe that "the pilgrim way" of a commitment to the realities of a "world without borders" is closer to the mission mandates of the New Testament. Some of us prefer to live as pilgrims in the wilderness "looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Heb. 11:10).

David F. D'Amico
CBF Representative to the UN,
New York, N.Y.