JACKSON, Miss. (Special) — Contrary to what has been reported in secular news media, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is not currently implementing a name change to Great Commission Convention nor mandating that member churches do likewise. The rumor appears to be based on an article published in the Washington Post after SBC President J.D. Greear announced recently that the theme of the 2021 SBC annual meeting will be, “We Are Great Commission Churches.” The article implied that the convention was attempting to change its name in an effort to move past its well-known racial history.
During the 2012 SBC annual meeting, messengers approved a recommendation that stated a member church could use the phrase, “Great Commission Baptists,” when referring to their individual church, if they chose to do so (see final paragraph of thebaptistrecord.org/sbc-president-greear-announces-2021-annual-meeting-theme/).
Churches and state Baptist conventions in friendly cooperation with the SBC are considered autonomous, and voluntarily choose to affiliate with the SBC (Article IV, sbc.net/about/what-we-do/legal-documentation/constitution/). While messengers to SBC annual meetings have proposed various convention name changes since at least 1951, none have been adopted.
