Is Cooperation Only For Presbyterians?

Attached below are two recent Conservative Baptist Network Newsletters written by Dr. Timothy Pigg, pastor at Fellowship Church in southwest Florida and Conservative Baptist Network Director

If you are a cooperating church of the Southern Baptist Convention, you might be interested to hear that the Dr. Iorg compared designated cooperative giving to being “expressive individualism” of the same worldview that has produced gender dysphoria in our culture (https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/iorg-exhorts-renewed-financial-cooperation-urges-rejection-of-expressive-individualism/). 

As a pastor, I would like to challenge that notion by simply saying that designated giving is not an example of “expressive individualism” but rather an exercise of a distinctly Baptist value—local church autonomy. How a church decides to give and to what level a local church wants to cooperate is not “expressive individualism.” Each church is completely autonomous to cooperate at whatever level they deem proper stewardship. 

Dr. Iorg’s statements reflect how distorted his understanding has become of what it means to be “baptist.” 

If we go back in Baptist history to the founding of the Southern Baptist Convention, it was the autonomy of local congregations that produced the cooperation for missions. Autonomy creates cooperation according to doctrinal fidelity. 

If the banner of being “Baptist” becomes cooperation, then quickly doctrinal fidelity will become undefinable. The pragmatic desire to always have more cooperation can lead to a decline of Baptist distinctiveness. 

The hypothesis that I would like to submit is that our doctrinal concerns in the Southern Baptist Convention are a result of having offered our sacrifices to the altar of cooperation. 

My church, Fellowship Church, believes that our doctrine should define our cooperation, and our cooperation includes our designation of funds. Therefore, we will continue to be doctrinally faithful and distinctly Baptist at Fellowship Church as we seek to know God and make Him known through our text-driven ministries. 

Pastors, I am praying for you during this time as you lead your church to be good stewards in your cooperation. 

_____

As you know, Dr. Iorg made comments at the recent Executive Committee meeting that were unwise. He compared congregations that designate their giving due to a lack of trust and transparency to those working from the godless worldview of "expressive individualism." He claimed that "expressive individualism" is the worldview that has given rise to gender dysphoria in our culture.

In an earlier Network Newsletter, I shared openly with you that Baptist cooperation happens through our doctrinal commitments to local church autonomy. You do not have to cease to be autonomous to cooperate. I also warned that if cooperation becomes the mantle of being Baptist, then we are at great risk of doctrinal decline.

Like many of you, I try to remain hopeful that those who misspeak will recognize their error and provide an adequate correction. I believe that, as Christians, we should give each other space to make mistakes; this is what it means to show grace towards one another. I strive to lead my congregation, Fellowship Church, to be characterized by grace in their relationships with one another. Dr. Iorg did not correct his earlier statements but instead chastised those who criticized him by releasing his full manuscript. 

Unfortunately, his manuscript does not help the matter. In his full manuscript, he makes some statements that are troubling to me as a pastor. I will deal with each of the statements from a doctrinally faithful and distinctly Baptist perspective. Here is the link to his manuscript: https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/first-person-cooperation-calls-for-working-together/. 

Statement 1: Cooperation and Agreement

"Cooperation means working willingly with people who do not agree with you on everything. Expressive individualism insists you have your way and only work with people who agree with you or, better, will reward you for your individual choices."

Dr. Iorg asserts that cooperation means being willing to work with people with whom we disagree. I want to challenge that notion. Cooperation occurs out of a common-held agreement. As Southern Baptists, we have noted that our cooperation is fenced by the Baptist Faith and Message and "like faith and practice." 

The rally point for Southern Baptists since 1845 has been our doctrinal agreements. Doctrinal agreements, I might add, which are distinct from others. Therefore, we have fenced our cooperation from others with whom we disagree. 

Statement 2: Cooperation and Sacrifice

"Cooperation means you sacrifice to achieve common goals, not leverage gifts to enforce your personal preferences."

Dr. Iorg is correct. Cooperation oftentimes will take sacrifice. At my church, we are working on a building project. This is the first building project that I have ever led my congregation to accomplish. To accomplish the building project, we will need to present ourselves sacrificially to the Lord with our finances. 

As with the illustration that I provided from my own church's building project, the item being sacrificed is "personal finances." However, I would like to know what Dr. Iorg wants conservative Baptists to sacrifice? Does he want us to sacrifice finances? If so, conservative Baptists have been leaders in financial sacrifice throughout the years. Normal-sized churches have been giving 10% for decades. Does he want us to sacrifice doctrinal fidelity? If so, conservative Baptists will never loosen on doctrinal truth.

Additionally, what "personal preferences" are conservative Baptists demanding that are wrong? Is asking for fiscal transparency wrong? Is asking for our cooperation to reflect doctrinal fidelity wrong?

While Dr. Iorg is correct that cooperation can take sacrifice, he fails to give much context. Therefore, I am left confused. 

Statement 3: Cooperation and Presbyterians

"Cooperation means you surrender control to fellow Baptists which is anathema to expressive individualists."

Dr. Iorg says that cooperation means that you and I have to surrender control. Now, I find that statement to be probably the most troubling of all the previous statements I have listed. Let me explain...

The beauty of what the New Testament teaches concerning ecclesiology is that local churches are autonomous. This means that they exercise "full and complete" control over their operations. The governing document of the local church is Scripture, and the governor of every local church is Jesus.

Dr. Iorg suggests that to cooperate, you cannot be autonomous; instead, you must relinquish control to other Baptists. My friends, the resigning of control to other Baptists is not Baptist. As "people of the Book," we are not called in Scripture to surrender control to another ecclesiastical body. It does not matter if that ecclesiastical body is located down the street or a committee in Nashville, TN. 

The governing structure that Dr. Iorg is suggesting is a shift from Baptist ecclesiology to a Presbyterian hierarchical structure. 

Dear friends, cooperation is not only for Presbyterians. You can be a conservative Baptist and practice cooperation in the manner described in the New Testament. For this is precisely what we are endeavoring to do at the Conservative Baptist Network.

Pastors, let's stay faithful to the Word!