MACON, Ga. (ABP) — In the first major event since the Georgia Baptist Convention unilaterally voted to break a 173-year-old relationship with its flagship university, Mercer University officials welcomed more than 150 church leaders to the campus Jan. 19-20 to explore ways to sustain and enhance the school's Baptist identity.
“We reaffirm that Mercer is a Baptist university,” said Mercer president Kirby Godsey, “That reality, of course, can never be changed by a state convention.”
Godsey, who will retire in June after 27 years as Mercer's president, said the university faces the dual challenges of evaluating “how the Baptist identity informs the Mercer experience” and how to “sustain relationships with Baptist people.”
Godsey called the Georgia Baptist Convention's decision in November — to severe ties with the university by pulling scholarship funds for Baptist students — an action based on frustration over a lack of control, rather than the publicized issue of homosexuality. Unlike three other Georgia Baptist colleges, Mercer trustees are not selected by the convention.
“The abuse of the university in the Christian Index was unwarranted and uncivil, and our critics know it,” said Godsey, referring to a cover story in the GBC-owned newspaper just prior to the November meeting.
The story focused on a meeting of the Mercer Triangle Symposium held on what is nationally promoted by homosexual advocates as “Coming Out Day.”
“Did Mercer have a “coming-out day?” asked Godsey. “The answer is no. This nation has a “coming-out day.”
Godsey said some Mercer students held a forum — “not a novel idea at a university” — to discuss sexual orientation. “What better place to discuss such issues?” Godsey asked. “Otherwise, we leave such conversations to the backrooms and hallways.”
Godsey said he would rather students dialogue about gay and lesbian issues in a university forum than get their information from the Internet and Will and Grace. The stated purpose of the symposium, he added, was “to provide an open forum for issues related to sexuality.”
“Mercer will not be an advocate for alternative lifestyles,” said Godsey. “We will be an educational institution.”
While the university has a different role than the church, Godsey said, Mercer is “keenly aware of our church constituency.” However, said Godsey, “our students will be permitted to discuss sexuality. We're more freeing than some churches.”
The university, he added, will act with respect and civility toward all persons. He suggested that Mercer has “about the same percentage of gay students … as you have as members of your congregations.”
Godsey said Mercer is exploring ways to move ahead as a Baptist university free of formal ties with the GBC. “Our challenge is that we can't ultimately live out our Baptist identity in isolation,” said Godsey. “How do we join hands with Baptist people?”
The university serves churches through many functions, Godsey said, including ministry preparation through the undergraduate program in Christianity and graduate studies at McAfee School of Theology, the resources of the Center for Baptist Studies and Mercer University Press, and the expansive Baptist archives collection.
Godsey tossed out a few ideas for expanding Mercer's role as a Baptist resource, such as producing a new hymnal or Bible study curriculum. And he suggested Mercer affiliate with other like-minded Baptist groups.
Godsey asked participants to meet in groups to consider new ways the university might assist Baptist congregations. “We need your best thinking, insights and highest wisdom,” he said.
Mercer is appealing to churches for financial support to replace Georgia Baptist Convention funding for Baptist student scholarships. Godsey said the convention provides $3.5 million of the $11.5 million in aid to Baptist students, who make up more than half of the student population.
“The students entering Mercer this fall will receive no Baptist money unless it comes from you and your churches,” Godsey told the gathering.
Godsey said he is very grateful for what Georgia Baptists have done in creating and supporting Mercer, but described current leaders as “walking around in three days of darkness.”
Church historian Walter Shurden of Mercer, who also addressed the summit, called for formal action to ensure that at least half of the board of trustees and all future presidents be active Baptists. He suggested that at least 10 percent of the trustees be Baptist ministers from across the nation in order to keep the university connected with congregations.
Shurden urged Mercer to establish ties with Baptist organizations like the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Baptist World Alliance, Progressive National Baptist Convention and American Baptist Churches, USA. But he advised those should be “dotted-line” connections rather than “hard-wired” as in the past with the GBC.
Reports from discussion groups showed various opinions about the degree to which the university should connect with other Baptist groups, the potential for including direct funding to Mercer in church budgets, and which resources would be most useful.
Overwhelmingly, participants called for a more aggressive effort to get Mercer faculty and staff visible in churches and to get Baptists — especially potential students — to visit the campuses.
Some voiced support for retaining an active campus ministry program. Currently, the Baptist campus ministry program is directed by convention employee Chris Fuller. Godsey said the future of that position is not clear but that the university will continue to have a Baptist Student Union.
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