As I read the comments on the opinion page, the confusion is troubling. The two methods are congregational and ecclesiastical, and the two cannot be merged. To reunite, one or the other must go. The Baptist General Convention of Texas holds to the old Baptist belief that the congregation is the final decision maker and that power flows upward to the management. Southern Baptist Convention management holds that decisions are to be made by the management, and instructions are sent downward to the congregations.
Most modern denominations are ecclesiastical.
Baptists historically have been congregational, and many of us continue to believe in that form of church government. All of the other differences easily can be worked out, but there is no way to merge the two differing systems of management. May God give each of us the wisdom to reach a decision as to the system we want, and perhaps both groups can return to the work of God. I thought I was reading an article written by a partisan political pundit. Hardly appropriate for the Baptist Standard or its editor.