ATLANTA (ABP) — In a procedural about face, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship will reconsider a recent change to its purpose statement that deleted language about Jesus Christ and evangelism.
The revised statement was part of several amendments to the Fellowship's constitution and bylaws that were considered minor when proposed to the annual CBF meeting July 1. But the statement stirred strong reactions both within the Fellowship's constituency and beyond.
Joy Yee, incoming CBF national moderator, said July 20 the controversial change will be visited again by the Coordinating Council, the 69-member representative body that handles much of the Fellowship's business. The council, which approved the changes in February, meets again Oct. 13-14.
The first sentence of the revised statement says the CBF's purpose is “to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.” The old statement said, in part, the Fellowship's purpose is “to bring together Baptists who desire to call out God's gifts in each person in order that the gospel of Jesus Christ will be spread throughout the world in glad obedience to the Great Commission.”
Fellowship leaders said the change was intended to make the language of the constitution consistent with other CBF documents adopted in recent years, particularly the group's mission statement — “to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.”
But some CBF members objected during debate July 1, saying deleting references to Jesus and evangelism would send the wrong message. The general assembly defeated two motions to send the documents or only the questionable section back to the committee that proposed the changes.
However, the debate didn't end with the general assembly. “Discussions and concerned inquiries among Fellowship individuals” prompted CBF leaders to revisit the issue, the Fellowship said July 20.
The debate wasn't limited to Fellowship constituents either. Critics in the Southern Baptist Convention said the new purpose statement reveals the Fellowship's liberal bent. “This represents the eclipse of Christ in the moderate Baptist movement,” said Russell Moore, dean of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
“There was never intent in the changes to diminish our commitment to the lordship of Jesus Christ or to the Great Commission,” countered Fellowship Coordinator Daniel Vestal. “I am saddened that anyone would interpret the actions by the council and assembly otherwise, but I do understand the questions that have been raised. One simply can't read our mission statement, attend our gatherings or participate in our ministries without realizing the centrality of Jesus Christ in all we believe and do.”
Yee, senior pastor of New Covenant Baptist Church in San Francisco, voiced a similar sentiment. “It is in Jesus Christ that CBF lives, moves and has its being,” said Yee. “However, concerns that we remain clear about this fact in our documentation have been heard and the Coordinating Council will be asked to address this issue at our October meeting.”
As national moderator, CBF's top elected position, Yee also serves as moderator of the Coordinating Council.
Jay Robison, the general assembly participant who made the unsuccessful motion to refer the new language back to committee, was reticent about Yee's announcement, however.
“It depends on what they're going to do when they take another look at it,” Robison, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky., told Associated Baptist Press. “I think we had a very strong statement previously, one I was very comfortable with. And that's why I wanted to see it remain. I think we had a strong statement that expressed not just a strong commitment to social action, but also a commitment to evangelism — and those two are not mutually exclusive.”
— Robert Marus and Ken Camp contributed to the story.