INDIANAPOLIS (ABP) — Southern Baptists broke ties with their global brethren in the Baptist World Alliance, marshaled support for a familiar list of social issues, and voted to keep the Southern Baptist Convention name, despite suggestions it has become a hindrance to their image and growth.
In an emotional high point of their annual meeting June 15-16, about 8,000 SBC messengers in Indianapolis cheered President George W. Bush during the born-again president's address live via satellite from the White House. Bush enlisted Southern Baptist help promoting his social agenda, including a Federal Marriage Amendment, anti-abortion legislation, faith-based social initiatives and tax cuts.
Meanwhile, messengers heard numerous sermons laced with warnings about America's moral direction and later passed resolutions opposing gay marriage, lamenting the “secularization” of American culture, and urging Christians to get involved politically and vote “biblical values.”
The meeting marked the 25th anniversary of the SBC's historic conservative swing, and speakers frequently praised those leaders who led the so-called “conservative resurgence.” But some leaders worried aloud if the next generation of Southern Baptists will carry on their legacy of reform and whether the denomination can recover from its numerical stagnation.
Newly elected SBC president Bobby Welch said the convention is in decline — noting a fourth consecutive year of declining baptisms — and prescribed a plan to recommit Southern Baptists to evangelism. The conservatives' 25th anniversary marks a “threshold” that could leave the convention “better, worse or stagnated,” Welch, pastor of First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Fla, told reporters. “But I know we can't tolerate the same-old, same-old.”
Morris Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee, took the soul searching even further, warning messengers the conservative movement is in danger of going too far to the right theologically. Without redirection, the SBC could now “fall into the error of Pharisaism,” he said, “lifeless orthodoxy parading as true faith.”
As expected, SBC messengers voted overwhelmingly to end the denomination's 99-year relationship with the Baptist World Alliance, an international network of Baptist groups. Paige Patterson, speaking for the committee that recommended the break, told messengers some of the 200-plus denominations worldwide that affiliate with BWA “do not believe in the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture.”
Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and other SBC leaders said the “liberal drift” of the BWA warrants the break. The SBC would do better collaborating with like-minded conservative groups around the world, they said. The BWA action includes funding for a new SBC-led initiative to unite other Baptist bodies around a conservative theological identity.
Denton Lotz, BWA executive director, later said the SBC's charges of liberalism are inaccurate and unfair. “There are 211 confessions or statements of faith” among BWA's 211 member bodies around the world. “We certainly are not liberal. We're all conservative evangelicals.” Lotz said the departure of Southern Baptists was a sad occasion for BWA.
Addressing the convention for the third time during his presidency, Bush emphasized themes that resonated with the convention's conservative core — the battle against terrorism and the struggle to bring democracy to the Middle East, his record on tax cuts and job creation, as well as education and Medicare. He called on the U.S. Senate to allow him to appoint conservative judges and on Congress to pass laws supporting government funding for faith-based initiatives.
Bush, who was interrupted 20 times during his 12-minute speech, generated the strongest response when he emphasized moral issues.
“I will keep working to build a culture of life in America,” he pledged, citing his support for three anti-abortion bills, as well as promising more funding for crisis-pregnancy centers, support for adoption as an alternative to abortion, and a law that requires parental notification before a minor girl can have an abortion.
The president vowed to support a ban on human cloning, insisting, “Life is a creation of God.”
He stressed his administration would defend “the sanctity of marriage against activist courts and local officials who want to redefine marriage forever,” a line that generated sustained applause. “The union of a man and woman is the most enduring human institution honored in all cultures,” he added, assuring that he would “support a constitutional amendment to protect marriage as the union of a man and a woman.”
“These years have brought trials we did not ask for and challenges we did not expect to face,” Bush acknowledged. “Now we look forward with confidence and faith. … We pray always for God's guidance and strength, for our lives and for this great nation.”
SBC leaders noted Bush's appearance did not constitute an endorsement of his reelection campaign. And convention resolutions on political involvement and support for the military stopped short of endorsing Bush or the war in Iraq.
A resolution on Christian citizenship urged “all Christians to vote in accordance with biblical values rather than according to party lines, personalities or candidate rhetoric.” It called on churches to conduct voter registration and education.
A resolution supporting a Federal Marriage Amendment would counter attempts to legalize same-sex marriage and the actions by some elected officials to issue “counterfeit marriage licenses,” the statement said. The resolution noted “the institution of marriage is in a state of crisis.”
A resolution commending former President Ronald Reagan called him “a man of prayer and strong faith” who “exemplified the hallmarks of a Christian leader.” It credited Reagan with respecting the sanctity of life and liberating millions of people from communism.
But a much-anticipated resolution calling for Southern Baptists to withdraw from public schools failed to gain the approval of the resolutions committee or messengers. The issue of education had been sufficiently addressed in past statements, the committee said, while the issue of how to educate children is best left to parents. An amendment to add the anti-public-school plea to the resolution on secularization failed to garner a majority.
The idea of studying a name change for the Southern Baptist Convention had the pre-convention support of SBC president Jack Graham of Dallas. But messengers voted 55 percent to 45 percent not to form a study committee.
Supporters of the study, many from outside the South, said the regional name hinders church growth. Noting the SBC has churches in both the United States and Canada, Herb Stoneman of Salt Lake City said a new name “would better reflect who we are.”
Others said the name “Southern Baptist” has attracted negative connotations. The pastor of a New York mission church said the name “has become an impediment to sharing the gospel. … The word Southern Baptist is almost evil.”
But Glen Peck of St. Louis, Okla., voiced a common sentiment: “We are proud of our hard-won heritage. We know and project our doctrine by our name. We have media, for or against, immediately identifying who we are and what we stand for.”
Ed Taylor of Virginia suggested changing the name would not change the image of Southern Baptists. “… [N]o matter what we change our name to, the media will let the secret out that we really are Southern Baptists.”
Chapman, in his address as head of the Executive Committee, warned the convention's rightward shift that began in earnest 25 years ago, may have gone too far. “If Southern Baptists steer sharply to the right, we will end up on the road of separatism and independence,” said Chapman, a conservative who was elected SBC president two times.
He urged the convention “to return to some sense of normalcy.”
“The crusade phase of the conservative resurgence has passed,” he said. “…The battle has been won.” Southern Baptists now “cannot linger at the base camp” of biblical authority, he added. “We are people not only compelled to believe the Book, we are compelled to live the Book.” True biblical faith should result in righteousness, holiness, church-planting and missions, he said. “This is our biblical mandate.”
Chapman said conservatives have not made good on their pledge to bring a broader range of Southern Baptists into leadership positions. While those in trustee positions must be inerrantists, endorse the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message statement, and support the Cooperative Program, leadership should be open to those “who listen to God's Spirit, not trustees who are susceptible to politics.”
“We cannot let this convention be driven by politics,” he said.
Those differences over SBC governance surfaced in recent months over the issue of the charter of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. That issue came to a head at the Indianapolis meeting, as messengers approved a motion requesting the seminary to make the SBC “sole member” of its corporation, following the lead of all other SBC agencies and institutions.
Convention leaders said the change was necessary to guarantee no SBC agency would ever break away from convention control.
Chuck Kelley, New Orleans Seminary president, asked messengers to postpone the action for a year so the seminary could present an alternative “more in keeping with Louisiana law and Baptist polity.” However, messengers adopted the motion from the Executive Committee to make the request now. The measure passed on a 64 percent to 36 percent ballot vote.
Messengers approved a name change for the Annuity Board, the SBC's retirement and insurance agency, to GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. O.S. Hawkins said the change would allow the agency to market its products to other evangelical ministry organizations. The change must be affirmed again at next year's SBC meeting, but the Annuity Board is permitted to use the name in the meantime.
A motion to boycott Carnival Cruise Lines and to ask the Annuity Board to sell its Carnival stock was referred to the Annuity Board for consideration. Carnival has been criticized for on-board gambling and hosting gay-themed cruises. The Annuity Board has defended its ownership of Carnival stock, saying divesting of all questionable companies would be unwise.
The convention approved a 2004-05 SBC Cooperative Program operating budget of $183.2 million. Major allocations include 50 percent for the International Mission Board, 22.8 percent for the North American Mission Board and 21.6 percent for theological education.
In addition to electing Welch, messengers chose Gerald Davidson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Arnold, Mo., as first vice president. David Hwan Gill, pastor of Concord Korean Baptist Church in Martinez, Calif., was elected second vice president.
Unlike recent years, there was competition for the SBC presidency. Welch, whose candidacy was announced months ahead of time and endorsed by top SBC leaders, collected 80 percent of the vote against Al Jarrell, a North Carolina pastor whose nomination was a last-minute decision.
Some convention observers saw Jarrell's nomination as a positive sign the conservative movement may be moving away from tightly controlled elections.
“We're big boys and girls now. We can have more than one candidate,” Jimmy Draper, president of LifeWay Christian Resources, told reporters afterward.
Draper said many younger ministers have become discouraged about participating in the SBC. “There is a weariness with the feeling that everything is cut and dried,” said Draper, who also served as SBC president. “Most things have been cut and dried. The disenfranchisement makes it difficult. They think they are bucking the system.”
“I do not think that we have a defined strategy to develop and bring along leadership,” Draper said.
Draper said he agrees in part with Chapman's warning about convention politics. “I wouldn't have said it just like that, but it appears like there is a predetermination of things.”
He pointed to the legal controversy over agency “sole membership” as an example of the “combative atmosphere” in the SBC. “I think Morris is probably correct that we need to be careful,” Draper added. “I've said all along we need to be careful not to just create another [political] system.”
Draper used part of his annual LifeWay report to messengers to warn about the lack of younger participants. “Walk around this building and notice how many people you see who are under the age of 40,” he told messengers. “There's not many. There is a lack of denominational involvement and loyalty among young ministers. …”
“How do others view us?” he asked. “We should be proud of our stand on the authority of Scripture, our affirmation of the Baptist Faith and Message, our faithfulness to sound doctrine in the face of a cultural backlash. At the same time, many people see Southern Baptists against everything and trusting no one — even each other.
“The struggle for the last 25 years in this convention was for scriptural fidelity, and we won,” Draper continued. “Now let's do something with this victory. Let's pass it on to the next generation.”
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