BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (ABP) – Belmont University has decided not to remain affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention, which helped found the school in 1952.
School officials informed convention leaders that Belmont intends to elect its own trustees — a move taken by many colleges nationwide seeking more freedom from sponsoring Baptist bodies.
Leaders from Belmont and the convention are not calling the move a severing of ties. In fact, Belmont expressed a desire to continue a “fraternal” relationship with the state convention. But after Nov. 1 the Nashville school does not expect to receive any further budget support from the convention.
A “Resolution of Relationship” defining the new arrangement is expected to be presented to the Tennessee Baptist Convention for approval during its annual meeting Nov 15-16. If messengers approve the resolution, it in effect ends all affiliate ties to Belmont, which has 4,000 students.
The proposal already has been approved by the convention's education committee with some modifications and will be presented to its Executive Board soon. Belmont trustees will vote on the plan Nov. 10.
When asked to respond to the proposal, Belmont president bob Fisher declined comment at the time.
Belmont's proposal comes after the convention's Executive Board voted in September not to accept a new covenant agreement with Belmont that would have allowed the college to elect up to 40 percent non-Baptist trustees.
Also, the state convention last year asked each of its three affiliated colleges to investigate whether its classroom instruction is consistent with Christian beliefs. Those reports are due during the Nov. 15-16 convention.
In light of Belmont's departure, convention leaders drafted a new budget that reallocates the $2.3 million intended for Belmont University. The bulk of it will go to the Southern Baptist Convention ($825,940). The other two convention-affiliated colleges — Union University and Carson-Newman College — each will receive an additional $500,000. The remainder will be divided among other Tennessee Baptist institutions.
Roger Freeman, a Clarksville pastor who is president of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, said it is appropriate that the largest portion to the Southern Baptist Convention. “In 1952, Tennessee Baptists reduced giving to the SBC worldwide causes by 10 percent to begin a mission program called Belmont College,” he said.
Freeman also said it “is right and appropriate for a large portion of these mission funds to go to Union and Carson-Newman, Christian institutions which are seeking to strengthen their commitment to Baptist identity in biblical beliefs, Baptist leadership and Cooperative Program support.”