Dr Sam Storms of Enjoying God Ministries writes a two-part appeal to the International Mission Board (IMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), which is quite interesting. His appeal is in response to their decision to forbid people who “speak in tongues” or use a “private prayer language” to serve as missionaries.
In his appeal, Storms states:
What concerned me most, as I read this report, was the apparent basis on which the decision was made. Aside from appealing to the “fact” (?) that the majority of Southern Baptists don’t believe praying in tongues is a valid exercise in the church today, the policy “interprets New Testament passages dealing with glossolalia – the Greek word for speaking in tongues – as talking about a spiritual gift enabling the bearer to speak a language that ‘generally is considered to be a legitimate language of some people group,’ and adds that a ‘prayer language as commonly expressed by those practitioners is not the same as the biblical use of glossolalia.’ It also notes that the Apostle Paul’s ‘clear teaching is that prayer should be made with understanding.’”
You can read Dr. Storms’ comments and appeal in full, which is published in two parts at his website:
Speaking in Tongues and the Southern Baptist Convention (1)
Here, Storms addresses the question: “Are New Testament tongues always a ‘legitimate [human] language of some people group’?”
Speaking in Tongues and the Southern Baptist Convention (2)
Here Storms addresses the argument “that the Apostle Paul’s ‘clear teaching is that prayer should be made with understanding.’”
Storms concludes his article by saying:
I appeal to them, on what appears to me to be the clear teaching of the NT, to rescind this unbiblical and unwise policy before it is implemented to the detriment of God’s global missional endeavor.
What are your thoughts? Do you think that we should stifle the Spirit? Do you believe that we should “forbid speaking in tongues”, going against the instructions give by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:39?
Feel free to leave your comments below.
You may also enjoy the bible study titled Speaking in Tongues.
Tags: sbc, southern baptist convention, baptist, church, denomination, christianity, charismatic, speaking in tongues, imb, missionary, missionaries
