RALEIGH, N.C. (ABP) — First Baptist Church of Henderson, N.C., and Wingate Baptist Church of Wingate, N.C., have cut ties with the North Carolina Baptist State Convention, becoming the first churches to withdraw since the convention dealt with several contentious issues at its annual meeting last November.
Another church, Millbrook Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C., voted Nov. 15 to stop sending money to the state convention, effective next year. The move essentially severs ties between the two.
All told, nine churches have publicly pulled out of the convention in the last four years as it became increasingly conservative.
First Baptist Church in Mount Gilead left in July; Lakeside Baptist Church in Rocky Mount left in May; Shamrock Drive Baptist Church in Charlotte left in April; Watts Street Baptist Church in Durham left in May 2004; and First Baptist Church of Newland left in January 2003. Greenwood Forest in Cary voted last April to stop sending money after 2006, which ended its relationship with the convention.
Two other churches have left because they felt the convention was not conservative enough.
Milton Hollifield Jr., the convention's executive director-treasurer, said in a written statement that he feels a sense of loss when a church decides to leave, but he recognized their right to do so.
“[T]hese churches are expressing the autonomy inherent in every Baptist body,” he said. “I appreciate all they have contributed to the common mission of North Carolina Baptists in its long history, and I wish them God's blessings as they follow the leadership of Christ in their future.”
First Baptist Church in Henderson announced its plans in an open letter to the convention. The letter says church members have been “gravely concerned about a dramatic change in the spirit and tone” of state convention life for more than 10 years.
“There have been repeated efforts to align the Baptist State Convention as a satellite of the Southern Baptist Convention, a mounting desire to control institutions and agencies, a growing effort to stifle dissenting voices, and a constant determination to place limits on ways churches give financially and fulfill their mission,” the letter said. “We have longed for a Baptist life based on empowerment of ministry and mission, not control and domination.”
According to Wingate pastor Derrill Smith, the church voted by an 89 percent majority on Dec. 3 to leave the convention. However, the church affirmed a continued commitment to convention institutions and agencies.
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