Dear Discovery Community Church Family,

On August 25, 2024, our church voted to discontinue our membership in the Southern Baptist Convention. Ninety-four percent (94%) of the ballots cast were in favor of this dissolution. 

In the months ahead we will be taking any and all administrative steps necessary steps to bring Discovery Community Church into alignment with this decision.

Discovery Community Church will continue in a cooperative relationship with sister churches in the Puget Sound Baptist Association. The decisions, direction, and theology of this church will remain consistently gospel driven and biblically based. We continue to be a congregationally led church. The staff and leaders of this church remain accountable first to The Father, the mission of Jesus, and the members of this congregation.

Jesus has given this church an incredibly important mission in the heart of Tacoma and Pierce County. I look forward to watching what God does through us in the season ahead.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me or a church council member.

Prayerfully,

Pastor Jon

Who We Are

Discovery Community Church is a Jesus-centered, Bible-based, multiplying, mosaic family serving our neighbors in the heart of Tacoma.

Jesus has knit us together in His family to share His mission of reaching, redeeming, deploying, and depending.

This mosaic family is beautifully diverse locally and globally. We believe that the unity Jesus prays over this diverse family is beautiful, necessary, and surrounded by challenges.

In the following document, we hope to outline what we believe supports and builds cooperative relationships locally and globally and, sadly, what we see as our biblical mandate if and when cooperation appears to be limited.

The Great Commandment

John 13:34-35

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Our Supreme Responsibility

We are admonished over and again that our supreme responsibility is to treat one another with love.

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Colossians 3:14

And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Building Bridges

We are encouraged over and again to work for peace/reconciliation in spite of what often divides us.

Romans 14:19

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.

Matthew 5:9

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

John 17:22

I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one...

We believe God’s heart for His family should be reflected in a mosaic that values different stories, perspectives, cultures, experiences, doctrinal positions, and reconciliation when necessary.

Distinctives

2 Corinthians 6:17

Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

While it is a hallmark of the church to live and work toward a unity in our mosaic, the church itself is “set apart”.

Romans 1:1

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—We, who follow Jesus are called to come out of a world and it’s influences that no longer belong in the life of a Jesus follower.

Our “distinctives” are faith and practices that make us separate in some ways from those not in the family. These distinctions help identify us as followers of Christ but do not permit us to abandon love. Truthfully, one of our major distinctives is our call to love well those who disagree with our faith and practices. Our faith in Christ sets us apart in many ways from the world; however, in the New Testament we see an overwhelming call to limit the breadth of those distinctives, so as to not create unnecessary divisions within the family of faith.

See The Essentials We Believe

We are cautioned over and again:

Matthew 13:49

This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous...

Any instructions addressing separation are both minimal and saturated with lament. We simply must work hard to maintain cooperation and community. We recognize this cooperation will be both costly and beautiful as it represents Jesus’ intention for His church.

The cost of this cooperation comes in the form of humility seasoned with:

• Curiosity
• Grace
• Forgiveness
• Repentance
• Mutual investment

When Relationships Change

Sadly, we recognize that sin, hardness of heart, or even practical circumstances may limit our ability to cooperate with one another for a season or longer. If this must happen, it should bring lament, repentance, and hope of reconciliation.

The Question of Our Denomination Affiliation

Discovery Community Church has been in the Southern Baptist Convention network of churches since our inception in 2001. The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. Churches cooperate in this network through local involvement (Puget Sound Baptist Association) and regional conventions (Northwest Baptist Convention). These networks cooperate by attending an annual national convention and sharing financial investment for different entities through what is called the “Cooperative program”. Entities include the International Mission Board (IMB), the North American Mission Board (NAMB), Disaster Relief (DR), and regional seminaries.

Churches in the SBC are completely independent with full control over facilities, staffing, and even doctrinal statements. The SBC has long provided liberty while cooperating together for the Great Commission work of sending missionaries, responding to disasters, starting churches.

In the most recent years there have been growing concerns and questions regarding our church’s responsibility and the effectiveness of ongoing alignment with this denomination. Some of the concerns:

• The SBC’s response toward sexual abuse victims and action on necessary reforms
• The SBC’s ongoing struggle with racial reconciliation
• The language/tenor around doctrinal disagreements
• The marginalization of female leadership in the local church

The above issues give us serious concern. In an entity as large and diverse as the SBC, we also recognize the wheels of change will move slowly. The convention structure allows a platform for diverse voices—even those that may be deeply abrasive. It is often difficult to determine if voices are representing the formal position or even the general consensus of our diverse cooperative.

Your Church Council’s Recommendation

These recent months we have sought to prayerfully understand...

• Our biblical mandate regarding cooperation in The Father’s deeply mosaic global church.
• Our brothers and sisters in the SBC.

After much thought and prayer, we believe we must change our relational position with our current network.

While it appears the national convention may be wrestling in good faith with some of the above listed concerns, the current and persistent direction of the national SBC leads us to believe...

• Great Commission cooperation has become secondary to political ideology and second-tier doctrinal issues.
• Diverse voices are underrepresented and seem increasingly unwelcomed.
• Female leadership in the local church is being unduly limited.

We are absolutely convinced our biblical mandate requires us to cooperate with brothers and sisters who share second-tier doctrinal differences. However, the current environment has made it difficult to effectively cooperate and directly impacts our local church’s ability to be a gospel witness in Tacoma.

We recommend that Discovery Community Church:

• Dissolve our relationship with the national Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).
• No longer formally identify with or promote SBC as our “denomination.”
• Suspend financial gifts through the SBC’s cooperative program.
• No longer send delegates (known as messengers) to future national conventions.

We value continued cooperation with churches in our local networks, called the Puget Sound Baptist Association and Northwest Baptist Convention. We believe it is in this regional network that we can still model our biblical mandate for cooperation.

We may consider cooperation for specific mission causes with entities aligned with the Southern Baptist Convention (Lifeway Resources, Disaster Relief, North American Mission Board, International Mission Board, etc.). These cooperative ventures would be considered on a case-by case basis using our cooperation metric.

The SBC Listening Session was led on August 18, 2024, by Pastor Jon and Council members David Kim, Bobby Humes, Emily Williams, and Chris Davis. Below is an overview of the session.

Background

• Discovery Community Church (DCC) is a congregation-led church.
• Discovery's Council represents the church at large — to make decisions prayerfully together, to help the church maintain integrity in finances and other practices, to monitor the spiritual climate of the church, etc.
• There are some churchwide concerns that require formal input and response not just from the Council, but from the distinct members of Discovery through a vote. Our Family Meetings provide the occasions to address these concerns and decide things together as a church.
• At the Family Meeting on August 25, we will be voting regarding our ongoing cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention, or SBC, which is a network of independent churches. For the last few years, there have been rising concerns about whether this network and its developing values continue to represent Discovery well.
• Since about 2 years ago, the Council has been walking through processes to determine whether or not the SBC is still a good fit for Discovery.

Discussion and Q&A

• Clarity on “secondary" or "second tier" issues:
  "Secondary" does not mean “insignificant,” but simply that they are not in the eight first-tier essentials of theology that directly affect a person's salvation. Some examples of secondary issues include baptism practices and the gifts of the Spirit. We hope to remain unified as a church body around these eight essentials, and to allow people to hold other secondary beliefs while remaining in Christian community with each other.
  
• Clarity on the voting plan on August 25:
  Discovery's bylaws state that votes must be in person, in real time — so absentee ballots and voting by proxy are not allowed. The bylaws also state that only the votes of Discovery's formal members (i.e. All In) can be counted toward the official decision. With that said, both members AND non-members will have an opportunity to let their voices be heard via either an official or unofficial ballot.
  
• What is the overall impact to the church if the relationship with SBC is severed?
  We will no longer be associated with the Southern Baptist Convention — which means we will not send people to the annual SBC convention (which we have rarely done), and we will not give financially to or receive financially from SBC. None of this will have a significant impact on Discovery. So the overall impact is quite minimal, as our association has not had a significant impact on the ministry we are doing in Tacoma.
  
• What does disassociation from SBC mean for our friends supported through those funds and avenues of training, etc.? Do we still have an opportunity to partner with them outside of SBC?
  We do not currently have any partnerships that would be affected in the ways described. But yes, we could continue partnership outside of SBC, either through the Northwest Baptist Convention (NWBC) or the Puget Sound Baptist Association (PSBA), our local network affiliates — or through another channel entirely.
  
• If the proposal passes, what will DCC’s denominational affiliation be?
  Immediately following the passing of the proposal, we would remain aligned with NWBC and PSBA — i.e. our local network of churches.
  
• How would this network change affect Jon’s retirement account?
  Jon's retirement plan is currently processed through and, to a small extent, financially supported by SBC. The Council is working to make sure that Jon's retirement coverage can continue through a non-SBC plan.
  
• Are NWBC and PSBA affiliated with SBC?
  Yes, to the best of [Jon’s] knowledge, these two local networks cooperate with SBC. Our intention is to continue cooperating locally, until or unless a concern about these local networks gives us pause, similar to the current SBC concerns. NOTE: We are evaluating all of Discovery's partnerships as we evaluate our SBC partnership. Through this process we are developing criteria for defining good and appropriate partnerships. If at any point either of these two local networks no longer met our partnership criteria, we would reevaluate each partnership accordingly.
  
• Can these entities (NWBC or PSBA) mandate anything for us?
  No. All churches that partner with these networks function independently, and cooperation is bottom-up, not top-down. The associations are truly relational partnerships; a prime reason why the Council recommends staying associated with these networks is because of our existing relational connection. We will continue to make our own decisions with our elected Council, our pastor and our church body.
  
• How exactly has SBC affected Discovery or our broader community?
  It gives some people pause to hear some SBC issues on the national stage and realize we [Discovery] are connected to that organizational entity. That relational connection brings doubt for our friends and neighbors: Is that what we believe or align with? Some friends are rejecting our invitations because of our SBC relationship. The current SBC issues also bring fear for some within Discovery: Are we being pressured by SBC to make changes to our church practices or functions? In either case, our alignment with partners matters.
  
• Comment:
  Thank you for prayerfully considering and discussing this issue. Our family has personally struggled with our potential future relationship with Discovery because of it. We have friends who won’t come to Discovery because of our SBC connection. SBC doesn’t really represent the viewpoints of the people in this area’s demographic.
  
• Why are we doing this vote right at the end of summer while more people are gone?
  We did consider moving the vote date, but we know that people miss Sunday services all year long for various reasons, and some would be absent regardless of when the vote took place. We’ve been walking through these concerns for a long time. Our initial target vote date was in July, but we were not fully prepared by July as planned. We decided to expedite the vote as early as possible after that postponement.
  
• How many members need to vote for it to count? How will we know beforehand if that quota will be met?
  Our bylaws don't specify a required number or percentage of present voting members. What they do specify is that the number of in-favor votes received must exceed 50% of the entire vote in order for the vote to pass.
  
• Will the vote results be made public?
  Results will be publicized at the end of next week’s meeting. We will make any necessary network changes immediately based on that vote.
  
• Can we further clarify what "partnership" and "association" mean?
  The Council is working on clarifying these and other terms surrounding partnership, cooperation and networking. David K. is helping us develop tools to identify and assess our relationships, and to assign one of four designations that best fits the nature of each relationship:
  - Full alignment
  - Ministry partner
  - Shared target
  - Gospel space
  
  A filter is also in development to determine what qualifies as a healthy, appropriate partnership. The filter metrics thus far include:
  - Relational proximity
  - Geographical proximity
  - Heart posture
  - Theological alignment
  - Ministry philosophy
  - Financial partnership
  - Demographic alignment
  
• How does Discovery disagree with SBC’s political ideology?
  The Council's concern is not that Discovery disagrees with SBC ideology, but that SBC ideology seems to have been elevated in importance over SBC theology. What have historically been gospel conversation spaces at and around SBC seem to have shifted to primarily political spaces. Hearts are not urgently breaking for the lost in the same way as in previous years.
  
• If the Church is Christ's Bride, are we not meant to mend the relationship to the best of our ability first — i.e. “marriage counseling” — without the "divorce" step of disconnecting from SBC? Is this the easy way out, a decision of haste and convenience in a hard season?
  This has NOT been a hasty decision. This is a difficult place that we’ve been navigating slowly, deliberately and cautiously. We want this to be a discipling journey. Over the years we have been navigating this issue, there has not been evidence of great progress in the way SBC addresses abuse. SBC simply no longer seems to be gospel-centered; if SBC were to come back to the call (Acts 1:8), we could always reconsider the relationship. For now, the time has come to lament, to make a change and do whatever we can to be faithful to what God has called us to here.
  
• When will Discovery's mosaic equity statement be publicized, and what further steps will be taken?
  For a year and a half, the Council was working to clarify what mosaic means as Discovery strives to be defined as a multiplying mosaic movement. This clarifying work has been put on hold since last February — but the work needs to continue. The burden of continuing the work is currently in Jon's court.
  
• Comment:
  I find the SBC conversation a little confusing. But what led me to Discovery was Pastor Jon’s passion and preaching of the Word. I am a strong believer in Jon’s decision-making, and I support whatever he and the Council want to do.