HOUSTON (ABP) — Houston Baptist University and the Baptist General Convention of Texas have agreed to a “memorandum of understanding” that maintains their long-standing relationship but with reduced funding for the school.
According to Keith Bruce, coordinator of institutional ministries for the BGCT, the memorandum “clarifies the implications of the school's fraternal relationship with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention,” a conservative convention that broke away from the BGCT.
While the university will be allowed to maintain its fraternal relationship with the conservative group, it must “give priority” to ministries of the BGCT, the memorandum says.
The memorandum came about after the BGCT's Christian Education Coordinating Board created a special study committee in response to a motion approved at the 2003 BGCT annual meeting. The motion called on the board to “evaluate fully the implications of Houston Baptist University entering into a relationship with another state convention and to clarify the status of the relationship.”
An agreement between HBU and the BGCT, adopted in 2001, had called for the school to have a “unique affiliation” with the Baptist General Convention of Texas and not to enter into a “formal relationship” with any other denomination or convention. While the study was being conducted, the BGCT escrowed some funds earmarked for ministries at the university.
The Christian Education Coordinating Board voted Nov. 22 and the HBU Board of Trustees voted Nov. 23 to affirm the new document, which states that both bodies agree to “continue observing all provisions” of the earlier agreement and spelled out more clearly what certain terms mean.
The memorandum acknowledges “a difference of opinion” in regard to the terms “unique affiliation” and “formal relationship” but affirms that both the HBU board and the Coordinating Board arrived at their respective interpretations with “integrity, careful thought, and with no intent whatsoever” to breach the previous HBU agreement. The memorandum also defines these terms more clearly for future reference.
Re-affirming a unique affiliation with BGCT, Houston Baptist will maintain its fraternal relationship with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention but will “give priority” to ministries of the Baptist General Convention, the state's largest Baptist group, the memorandum says. “Activities or programs which are directly funded or administered by BGCT, such as Baptist student ministry or in-service guidance, shall be conducted as prescribed by the BGCT and coordinated with the CECB.”
On the other hand, the Coordinating Board affirmed HBU's “desire to reach out to its entire constituency” and to engage those constituencies through programs and ministries, including the accepting of scholarships. The escrowed funds, which amount to about $200,000, will now be released to the university, but about half of the amount will be specifically designated to minority scholarships and to support the Baptist student ministry on campus, Bruce said.
Another category of BGCT funding for the school, however, will continue to be withheld from HBU. A “block grant” of about $600,000 that was temporarily suspended in 2001 in response to HBU's unilateral action to change its trustee selection process will now be withheld indefinitely “in light of HBU's fraternal relationship with the SBTC,” the memorandum says.
Future funding of the university is tied to HBU's “continuing adherence” to the earlier agreement and the memorandum of understanding.