Missionary David Rogers and seminary professor Malcolm Yarnell have engaged in an on-line debate regarding the definition and nature of “Great Commission Christians.”
During the course of this debate Yarnell has defined “Great Commission Christians” in such a manner as to exclude all non-Baptists from the definition. He declares that Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists and Pentecostals “do not deserve to be classified as Great Commission Christians” because they “violate Christ’s will” and are “unrepentant sinners” in one or more of the following ways:
1) They do not obey the entirety of the Great Commission;
2) They do not follow the order of the Great Commission (i.e., placing baptism prior to discipleship);
3) They do not emphasize the faith delivered by our Lord, but add other requirements (e.g., elevating spiritual gifts and seeking to sway others to their “unbiblical positions”).
The seminary dean goes on to state that he and some other Baptists are willing to refer to fellow brothers and sisters in Christ with doctrinal differences as “unrepentant sinners” because it “helps bring forward important issues that are being buried in the rush of some naïve and errant children of the free churches to convert to Azusa Street, Canterbury, Geneva, Rome, and Constantinople.” Continuing with the city metaphor, Yarnell maintains that Baptists are citizens of Jerusalem. He attempts to qualify such arrogant statements by insisting Baptists are not superior to other Christians but are merely the recipients of “further illumination with regard to His Word” who should “listen humbly to other Christians in order to learn what we may.” Does this not bring to mind the immediate question, “How can a serious Christian learn from unrepentant sinners?” While I’m certain that Yarnell merely intends for his words to be provocative, I’m not sure he understands they can also bring undue division between members of Christ’s Body. I’m also fairly certain that he has mistaken Jerusalem for Nashville. He needs to consider how Nashville often strays from Scripture in such ways as disregarding regenerate church membership and by enforcing prohibitions which exceed biblical commands.
What makes Yarnell’s rants even more interesting is his own denomination’s establishment of a Global Evangelical Relations office. The mission statement of the GER is:
“To empower kingdom growth globally by loosely connecting likeminded conservative evangelicals who from time-to-time may comfortably and effectually minister together through joint venture efforts for Great Commission causes with the primary purpose to reach lost souls with the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
If Yarnell is correct, then I’m uncertain as to how these Great Commission causes can be carried out with integrity. As for myself, I’m more than willing to join hands with my non-Baptist brothers and sisters for the sake of our Lord’s Kingdom. I praise God for my friends who labor within the Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist and Pentecostal folds.
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James,
At the moment, I’m a bit speechless…which doesn’t happen often! I’ll need to read all of this for myself, but can we just go ahead and coin the phrase “Neo-Landmarkism”?
Kory J Burel, on September 28th, 2007 at 2:16 pm Said:
great article on yarnell and the baptist arrogance. could this be a reason ppl hate us?
I’ve been thinking about this the last couple of days. I’ve been thinking about what it would be like for me to sit down with the Methodist pastor across the street and the Presbyterian pastor 1 block away – both of whom are good friends of mine and are conservative, Bible-believing brothers in Christ – and look them in the eye and call them “unrepentant sinners” because they practice paedobaptism.
I think they are mistaken in their interpretation, but not sinning in their interpretation. There’s a big difference.
I think neo-landmarkism is spot on.