January 18, 2003
Dear Tom,
We are writing to inform you of our decision to resign from the International Mission Board. Seinan Gakuin University is in the process of hiring Dave as a "regular" tenured (sennin) professor. This resignation will be effective when Dave's official employment with Seinan begins, probably no later than March 1, 2003.
We feel we should explain the reasons for our decision. There are several. We have for some time felt that the International Mission Board philosophy of missions has changed to the point that it is difficult to continue, as employees of the Board, to carry out the ministry to which God has called us. The first of these changes is the Board's movement away from being a sending agency. The Board that we came to the field under, while rightly emphasizing accountability to the Board and to our constituency, placed an even greater emphasis on the fact that we were called by God and that our ultimate accountability was to Him. That Board told us repeatedly that they primarily saw their role as a sending agency to enable us to answer God's specific call. Changes over the last years have seemed to be a definite movement away from that Biblical idea. Secondly, we feel that recent emphasis on volunteers and short-term personnel, while not bad in itself, has resulted in a de-emphasis on long-term personnel, and more importantly, a departure from the incarnational approach to missions. Incarnational ministry is a concept that was strongly emphasized by the Board under which we came to Japan, and the movement away from this Biblical approach to missions, whether deliberate or not, grieves us. A third change in Board missions philosophy is the applying of one model of evangelism to the entire world and not allowing for regional and cultural distinctives. This is evidenced in the forced adoption of the team approach to missions and the single-model church planting movement approach to church planting.
While these reasons weigh heavily in our decision, there is one further reason that is really the main reason for our resignation. This is the requirement to sign the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, including the requirement to sign a statement that we would teach according to this document even if we disagreed with parts. Our disagreements with the content of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 are few but significant. They include the de-emphasis on the priesthood of the believer and the autonomy of the local church, the removal of the statement that Jesus is the criterion for Biblical interpretations, and the statement that women may not serve as pastors. Our beliefs in those areas are not, we believe, heretical, but are firmly held. We described those differences in correspondence through the regional leadership to the IMB and were informed that our beliefs were not such as to result in our termination. However, we were also informed that we were expected to sign the statement that we would carry out our ministry and teaching in accordance with the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. For us, this is something that we cannot sign with integrity. Just to give one specific example, the pastor of the small mission in which we are now involved is a woman (called by the members prior to our return from stateside assignment). She is doing an excellent job and we believe serving in response to the call of God. If we signed the required statement, we would feel a responsibility to begin influencing the mission to seek a male pastor, which neither of us believes is clearly taught by scripture. Finally, we would like to say that our refusal to sign the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 is in no way to be construed as an indication that we do not believe the Bible. Rather, just the opposite, it is because we do believe the Bible and want to live according to its principles as we feel God reveals them to us that we cannot sign.
In clarifying our reason for this action, we are not in any way passing judgment on the decisions of others. We have, very reluctantly, arrived at this decision after much prayer, discussion, and agonizing. We understand that others do not share our thoughts or may have reached different conclusions.
We also want to express our sincere gratitude to many: to you, Tom, and the regional leadership, as you have always been open to hear our concerns, joys, frustrations, prayers, etc. To the leadership in Japan who are serving God by serving us. To the Board for their support in every way: financial, prayer, encouragement. And finally, to our dear friends of the Japan Baptist Mission who we will still consider our brothers, sisters, co-laborers, but most of all, friends.
We anticipate continuing our ministry here in Fukuoka for as long as God wants us here. We also look forward to any opportunities to cooperate with missionaries in Japan.
Please keep us in your prayers as we move into this new phase of ministry. Be assured that you are in our prayers.
In Christ,
Dave and Robin Johnson