To Affiliate or Not To Affiliate

Hey everybody,

Please note that I am publishing this post simultaneously with the post below, called "A Name for the Founders' Home Church." It's shorter than this one, so please read them both.

As most of you know, I have really been re-thinking the idea of affiliating with the Southern Baptist Convention. Or any denomination for that matter.

And most of you have heard my take on denominations. They are not inherently bad, but they often hinder the real work of God, which is building a unified Kingdom. They can be helpful to that work when they send and support missionaries, found and run seminaries, colleges and other schools, and provide resources for local fellowships who all share a particular vision or characteristic. But they can be extremely harmful when they are self-promoting, divisive, political, controlling, professionalistic, institutional, stubborn, inflexible, sectarian, or obsessed with finances or attendance. This is not an indictment on any particular denomination, simply an observation of pitfalls that threaten every leadership structure or Christian organization. Most have fallen into a few of them, and a few have fallen into most of them.

It has been widely accepted amongst our group that we will continue to operate in a non-denominational fashion. We will have no sectarian creed, and will maintain unity regarding secondary doctrinal issues. And even if we do affiliate, we will not promote that denomination in the community, or include them in our name or identifying literature.

So I had to ask myself, why affiliate at all? If we're going to act non-denominational, why not just BE non-denominational?

If it's about money... we are already sunk.
If it's about assistance... I know quite a few people that will assist us whether we affiliate or not. Anyone who will not assist us if we don't affiliate would not be much help anyway.
If it's about tax-exempt status... we can get that anyway, it will just take some extra time and money.
If it's about accountability... much like "assistance" above, I know there are people who will agree to hold us accountable to correct teaching and practice. They can comprise a "board of advisors" for The Core.

So as you can see, I'm leaning very heavily toward remaining independent. That way we can be who we really are, and not have to worry about who will write us off if they find out that we are "part of the establishment." I really need you all to comment on this one, because I'd like to have a conversation about this on the record.

Thanks in advance!