(Christianity Today) Several prominent Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) leaders have embraced a moniker that identifies it with the denomination’s mission rather than its regional (and at times racist) past: Great Commission Baptists.
Last month, SBC president J. D. Greear announced “We Are Great Commission Baptists” as the theme for next year’s SBC annual meeting and said the Durham, North Carolina, church he pastors will employ the descriptor in lieu of identifying as Southern Baptist.
Great Commission Baptists has been an authorized descriptor of America’s largest Protestant denomination since 2012, when SBC messengers adopted the nickname by a 53 percent–46 percent vote. Though the idea has been floated and rejected over the years, it was not an official name change for the SBC, which took on the name Southern when separating from Northern Baptists over slavery prior to the Civil War.