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by Verlyn Bergen, Churchnet Resources & Relationships Team Leader
Resources and relationships usually don’t ignite the same passion as worship, evangelism, missions, or even church health. However, both have been and continue to be most influential in congregational and organizational life. Among Southern Baptists, it was widely accepted that it was our common interest in missions that tied us together as a denomination. As true as that might have been in early Baptist denominational life, it is my belief that as the denomination grew rapidly during the 1940s and 1950s it was the use of common resources that was the glue that held it together. Worship, Bible study, and even organizational life were common from congregation to congregation because all used the same resource for their primary influence – The Baptist Sunday School Board. The resources became the center around which our relationships were formed.
As we entered the 1980s and 1990s everything changed. Then, once the internet became widely used, congregations no longer were dependent on a common resource. Worship, Bible study, and even organizational life were different for each congregation. In other words, the question is no longer what resources are available but rather what resources have value for a particular congregation in a particular setting? That can only be answered if one has the kind of “relationship” with the congregation that the needs, hopes, and dreams are known. Organizations like associations and conventions began to search for ways to survive because even mission opportunities and commitments were changing. Some turned inward and developed creeds or codes of conduct that became the common test of association or relationship.
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Left: Verlyn Bergen
speaking during a
Churchnet Annual Gathering.
(photo credit: Doug Kaylor)
Right (on next page):
Bergen visiting with
Guatemalan Baptists.
(photo credit: Gary Snowden)