GREENSBORO, N.C. (ABP) — A meeting of moderate North Carolina Baptists this month will include a discussion of ways to fund selected Baptist causes without supporting the entire budget of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. . A statement released by meeting organizers said a major focus will be a discussion about ways churches can continue to support state Baptist institutions like colleges and universities, children's homes, retirement homes, mission organizations, a hospital, foundation and state newspaper. Representatives of these agencies will be invited to attend and participate.
“We need to identify ways to support these important ministry partners while not necessarily supporting the entire budget of the state convention,” said David Hughes, pastor of First Baptist Church in Winston-Salem.
Organizers also have invited representatives of Baptist organizations outside the state — such as the Baptist World Alliance, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, American Baptist Churches, Baptist Joint Committee, Baptist Center for Ethics, Associated Baptist Press and Baptists Today newspaper.
Traditionally Baptist churches have funded national and international causes through state convention budgets. But dissatisfaction with the direction of state conventions and the Southern Baptist Convention has altered the giving patterns of many churches in recent years.
Hughes and Ken Massey, pastor of Greensboro's First Baptist Church, are key organizers of the meeting, planned for Jan. 23-24 at the Greensboro church.
The statement said people attending the meeting will “discuss ways churches can engage in cooperative and constructive mission partnerships as they disengage from polarizing politics” in the North Carolina convention.
Conservatives have won at least two of the three top convention offices in eight of the last nine years. In elections last November, conservatives handily defeated moderate candidates Hughes, Massey and Raymond Earp. Those races were widely seen as a referendum on support for the conservative dominated Southern Baptist Convention.
In an interview, Hughes said that while some might see the meeting as an attempt by moderates to pull out of the state convention, he sees it as a way to keep moderates involved. Some think moderates' only two options are to continue as things have been or to completely pull out, Hughes said. The meeting in Greensboro will explore other options, he said.
Convention president David Horton of Greensboro said he's hopeful the convention can remain united despite some differences. “I don't want to see moderates leave the convention,” Horton, a conservative and pastor of Gate City Baptist Church, told the Associated Press. “A lot of time and energy has been spent on both sides of the aisles, moderates and conservatives, trying to work together.”
Horton said he doesn't think moderates are “completely ready” to leave the convention. He said he understands that some moderate Baptists are tired of fighting over political leadership in the convention. “I think they have taken that hard,” he said. “You reach a point where eventually somebody says, 'Is it worth it?' And my heart goes out to them.”
Jim Royston, the convention's executive director-treasurer, said any major shift in funding or diversion of funds could significantly impact the convention. “It could be a nightmare,” he said. The convention already cut its staff 20 percent this year because of slumping contributions.
Royston said he was curious about plans to reduce funding further because moderate churches use so many convention services. “I can't think of hardly any area they don't use,” he said.
But Hughes said moderates have become fatigued and frustrated and have developed a sense of futility. “It's just become a cumulative effect of many things over a period of time that took all the air out of the sails of moderates,” he said. “Based on what I'm hearing, there's just no energy in staying plugged in to the decision-making or the politics around decision-making in North Carolina Baptist life,” he said.
Hughes said he thinks there will be a “redefinition, rather than a termination of the relationship,” between moderates and the state convention. “At least initially, I don't predict many will pull out,” he said. “They may pull back.”
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