NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nearly a quarter of Southern Baptist churches are non-white. The growth of multi-ethnic minority churches and their increasing desire to understand the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) were the stimulus for a monumental suggestion:

The publication of “Navigating the SBC.”

“The initial idea came during a Zoom meeting with officers of the National African American Fellowship (NAAF) in December 2021,” Charles Grant told Baptist Press. Grant is the SBC Executive Committee’s associate vice president for convention partnerships.

“The NAAF leaders suggested the idea of some sort of resource guide for navigating the SBC, for them to ‘read the menu.’ That phrase encapsulated the need to understand the SBC, its structure, how it operates, how to be represented, and how to actively engage with the goal of having a constructive voice.

“African Americans wanted it for these reasons. Additionally, they wanted the resource to articulate the benefits of being Southern Baptist,” Grant continued. “What became ‘Navigating the SBC’ flowed out of these initial reasons. From the testimonies I’ve heard, the resource provides a broad yet succinct understanding of the SBC.”

Soon after the initial request, Grant began writing what became, with the counsel of other contributors, the 32-page “Navigating the SBC.” The booklet is available online at sbc.net/relations.

“I was at an event in Mobile, Ala., in January 2022 and was given an opportunity to talk about writing this resource,” Grant said. “An ethnic ministry leader came up to me afterward and he said, ‘Our churches need that too.’ I immediately realized this resource must be written for all ethnic groups. It needed to be pastor-friendly, user-friendly for church members, and in a simple and concise format.”

Word spread and now the publication is in Chinese, Korean, Haitian French-Creole and Spanish, as well as English, with four Burmese languages undergoing translation and others — including Arabic — being discussed.

“The booklet is thoughtfully and clearly organized into five distinct sections, each building on the other to provide a comprehensive yet easy-to-follow overview,” James Kang told Baptist Press. Kang is executive director of the Council of Korean Southern Baptist Churches in America, informally known as the Korean Council.

“Its simple structure and clear explanations make it an excellent resource for anyone seeking to understand how the SBC functions, its mission, and the ways it carries out its work,” Kang continued. “This resource fills a significant gap by helping Korean-speaking churches understand the vision, purpose and impact of the SBC and the Cooperative Program.”

Jeremy Sin, executive director of the Chinese Baptist Fellowship of the United States and Canada, said he wanted the publication in Chinese, “so all the Chinese churches will know how to contribute to the Southern Baptist family, and also they can receive the same benefit from the Southern Baptist family with a full understanding of how the SBC works together.”

China has many spoken languages — Mandarin and Cantonese, as well as many dialects — but one written language, Sin explained.

Bruno Molina, executive director of the National Hispanic Baptist Network, told Baptist Press he asked for “Navigating the SBC” to be translated into Spanish because Hispanic churches needed it.

“There is a great need to educate the majority of Hispanic churches about who we are and how we collaborate as Southern Baptists,” Molina said. “It [this booklet] helps us to explain concisely how our churches collaborate in fulfilling the Great Commission and fulfilling the cultural mandate of Genesis 1:27-28. It explains the work of our entities so that people can grow in their appreciation of what they do, and we can all be a force for good because we are better together.”

Lal San Ce is an active member of Falam Christian Church of Indianapolis, Ind., and human resources manager at a manufacturing plant. He is translating “Navigating the SBC” into four of at least 100 Burmese languages.

He chose to translate the booklet into Salam, Hakha and Mizo, three Chin languages, because most parents in Indianapolis are of Chin ancestry, and into Burmese, the language spoken by two-thirds of the people in Myanmar (formerly Burma.)

“There are a lot of Burmese and Chin who can only read in Chin,” Ce said. “If they read it in their own language they will understand more about SBC life, how the SBC is doing the ministry, and then we can convene them to get them involved in the outreach ministry. 

“We can also visit other churches with it and share about the SBC.”

It takes Ce about 130 hours for each translation. He has nearly finished Salam, half-finished Hakha and Mizo and expects to soon be done with the three Chin translations. 

“Burmese will be the last because it is easy for me,” Ce said. “I can be done with it in two weeks.”

When asked why he took this time-consuming project upon himself when he has a full-time job, family and active ministry with children and their parents at Falam Christian Church, Ce said, “I would like to serve God in my field of knowledge and have other people understand how God is working through my life.

“If I can translate into their own language, they can see how the SBC is doing around the world and they can become Christians and I can invite them to the next convention,” the translator added. The SBC annual meeting is to be in Indianapolis in 2027.

“I have prayed that in what I am doing God will be blessed,” Ce said. “Some parents [of children who come to church] stay at home. Their parents can read it [Navigating the SBC] and learn so many things that they will want to come to church with [their children.]”

Once finished, Hre Mang, executive director of the Myanmar Baptist Churches USA, a Southern Baptist fellowship, will have the Burmese translations proofed and sent on to Grant at the SEC Executive Committee. There the translations will be placed with the same graphical interface as the English-language version and uploaded to sbc.net/relations as a PDF booklet along with the other translation options.

A limited number of print copies will be made available through the SBC Executive Committee’s office. 

PDF versions of all translations are available at sbc.net/relations in the “Featured Resources” section.

“Our goal is to invest as much as feasible towards translating ‘Navigating the SBC’ into other languages,” Grant said. “The initial audience was ethnic minority groups, but the final audience is the entire SBC family.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Karen L. Willoughby is a national correspondent for Baptist Press.)