HMB

HOME MISSION BOARD, SBC

Christ for Our Nation

Statement Regarding
Evangelicals and Catholics Together
by
Richard D. Land, Executive Director, Christian Life Commission
Larry L. Lewis, President, Home Mission Board
April 6, 1995

We continue to believe in efforts which consolidate the influence of Evangelicals and Catholics in addressing critical moral issues. We believe the document Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT) signifies a new era of cooperation on such concerns as freedom of religion, pornography, attacks on faith and family, and abortion. We, therefore, continue to disagree with uninformed and distorted criticism of the document.

However, we have concluded that a significant number of Southern Baptists have been offended by the misperception that our respective agencies have endorsed the document. No matter how many times we explain that we signed ECT as individuals, not on behalf of our agencies or Southern Baptists, many do not understand. Confusion resulting from this continued misperception has the potential to impact negatively the mission and ministry of our agencies.

Consequently, after much prayer and mutual discussion, we have decided that as chief executive officers of Southern Baptist agencies, we should remove our signatures from Evangelicals and Catholics Together.

In doing so, we are not personally rejecting the intent of the document, nor are we agreeing with unjust criticism of it. However, we believe it is in the best interest of our agencies that we eliminate the persistent perception that our agencies have endorsed ECT. It appears that the only way to do so is to remove our names from the document.

We want to express deep gratitude and appreciation to our respective boards of directors for their affirming and unstinting support of our right to have signed the document as individuals. And, we recommit ourselves to sharing Jesus Christ as the only hope of a lost and dying world.

Signed:

1350 Spring Street NW Atlanta, GA 30367-5601 (404) 898-7000

A Southern Baptist Convention agency supported by the Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering

Commentary on statement by Richard Land and Larry Lewis

Regarding their endorsement of the ECT document

The obvious purpose of this joint statement was to deflect criticism. Most critics were silenced by the assumption that there was some sort of honest contrition expressed by Dr. Land and Dr. Lewis. In a recent correspondence Dr. Land insists that he and Dr. Lewis "were not endorsing every single aspect of the document but its intent..." which he claims to be only dealing with "moral issues." To the contrary, though, both Dr. Lewis and Dr. Land were included in the drafting process of the ECT. The document is full of theological statements. Prior to the issuance of the ECT there was considerable debate and disagreement over several theological statements in the document. Nevertheless, Dr. Land and Dr. Lewis chose to endorse the document even though significant doctrinal disagreements remained. After the ECT was issued Dr. Lewis admitted in a letter to some HMB trustees that he and Dr. Land, by endorsing the document appeared to be "lending credence to that heresy." The heresy he spoke of was a theological issue regarding the ECT's promotion of "baptismal regeneration." The "intent" of the ECT to present Roman Catholicism as a valid form of Christian discipleship, the "intent" to promote that "evangelicals and Roman Catholics are brothers and sisters in Christ" - even though they may believe in salvation by grace alone OR salvation mediated through sacraments - is indeed an "intent" of the document that is clearly stated on several occasions throughout its text. Dr. Land states that the joint statement was only disagreeing with unjust criticism, "we were not categorizing all criticism of it as unjust."

There is no place in this statement where either Dr. Lewis or Dr. Land accept any responsibility or acknowledge any accountability for having endorsed the perverted doctrine that is contained in the ECT. According to them, the blame for this controversy lies with the "substantial number of Southern Baptists" who oppose what they have done. Drs. Lewis and Land characterize this substantial number of Southern Baptists as being guilty of voicing "uninformed and unjust criticism," and of creating the potential for negative impact on the work of their agencies.

>> Among these "uninformed" Southern Baptists who are said to be contributing to "confusion" and a "continued misperception" are pastors, entire churches and associations, home and foreign missionaries, trustees of the Home and Foreign Mission Boards, the Mexican Baptist Convention of Texas, and other SBC leaders.

>> To understand the true meaning of their April 6 statement, one must know that soon AFTER this statement was issued, ECT co-authors Neuhaus and Colson published the ECT document in their new book, ECT: Toward a Common Mission. Land and Lewis were again listed as members of the ECT drafting team, endorsers of the ECT, and SBC agency heads. A special footnote was included which emphasized that Land and Lewis continued to personally endorse the ECT.

In the last paragraph of this joint statement, Drs. Land and Lewis state that their respective boards of directors had affirmed them with "unstinting support" in signing the ECT as individuals.  The truth is that Lewis' board was anything but united in support of his signing the ECT.  This issue created one of the most volatile upheavals of Lewis' ten year stint as HMB president, and is credited by some for Lewis not being carried over as president of the restructured HMB agency, now known as the SBC's North American Mission Board. 

As HMB president, Dr. Lewis worked on the ECT, utilizing Cooperative Program funds for time and travel, but he did so without the prior knowledge of HMB trustees.  When a vote was forced by concerned trustees, HALF of the agency's board of trustees would not support Lewis' signing of the ECT. Lewis continued his endorsement of the ECT, and there ensued a public statement of dissent by several board members. Obviously, this could hardly be called "unstinting support." This joint statement by Dr. Lewis and Dr. Land is misleading, and they themselves are guilty of promoting "confusion" and a "continued misperception."

The fact is that Dr. Richard Land and Dr. Larry Lewis placed their signatures over the typewritten names of their respective SBC agencies as they were listed for them on the endorsement page of the ECT. It was the obvious intention of the ECT authors to give the impression of the weight of credibility of the SBC to these men's endorsements of the ECT document. This has been readily admitted by other ECT drafters.

That Dr. Land had not understood the magnitude of his wrong in endorsing the ECT became even more evident in December of 1997 when he endorsed the second ECT statement, a new document entitled "The Gift of Salvation." Dr. Land was immediately confronted and opposed by other SBC leaders and quickly withdrew his signature. Again, Dr. Land admitted to no wrong whatsoever and publicly blamed his fellow Southern Baptists for the problem he himself had created. (See EDITORS COMMENTS)