September 7, 2024
INDIANAPOLIS — Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention passed a slate of recommendations Tuesday, June 11, related to how the convention deals with churches that no longer “closely identify with” the SBC in “faith and practice.”
The recommendations came from the Cooperation Group, which was formed with the assignment of studying the issue over the past year.
“This SBC was chartered for the purpose of directing the energies of Baptists for the propagation of the gospel,” said Jared Wellman, the group’s chairman and pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas. “We understand that there are times that there are churches that step outside this phrase ‘closely identifies with.’”
The group’s recommendations added definition to how Southern Baptists proceed when a church goes in that direction.
Recommendation 1: “To ensure that edits or amendments to The Baptist Faith & Message follow the same process as amendments to the Constitution (two-thirds vote, two consecutive years), we recommend the Executive Committee propose changes to our governing documents for the Convention’s consideration at the 2025 Annual Meeting.”
Group member Trevin Wax, vice president of research and resource development at the North American Mission Board, said the rationale behind that recommendation was to safeguard the process of amending the BF&M 2000.
“Our adopted statement of faith plays a significant part in the convention’s composition as it concerns friendly cooperation,” Wax said. “Historically the convention has appointed a special committee to suggest revisions. The process of amending The Baptist Faith & Message should be robust.”
Recommendation 2: “To ensure that the sole authority for seating messengers is vested in the messenger body, we recommend the Executive Committee propose changes to our governing documents for the Convention’s consideration at the 2025 Annual Meeting. We also recommend celebrating churches seating messengers for the first time.”
Group member Greg Perkins, pastor of The View Church in Menifee, California, explained that in 2019, the convention established a credentials committee to form an opinion on whether a church should be identified as a church in friendly cooperation with the SBC. That committee would then report its recommendation to the Executive Committee, which would take action.
Perkins said the Cooperation Group believes it is best for messengers “to have the sole authority to seat messengers” in collaboration with the EC as needed.
Recommendation 3: “To ensure the fidelity of our trustees to our doctrinal confession, we recommend the Executive Committee propose changes to our governing documents for the Convention’s consideration at the 2025 Annual Meeting to require the Committee on Nominations to nominate as entity trustees and standing committee members only those candidates who affirm the Convention’s adopted statement of faith.”
Group member Travis Kerns, associational mission strategist for Three Rivers Baptist Association in South Carolina, said the purpose of this recommendation is to affirm the expectation that Southern Baptists have of entity trustees — that they will “affirm and discharge their duties in agreement with the convention’s adopted statement of faith.”
Recommendation 4: “To clarify our cooperative unity, we recommend the Executive Committee evaluate the usefulness and accuracy of a public list of churches and report their updates at the 2025 Annual Meeting.”
Group member Tara Dew of First Baptist Church, New Orleans, said Southern Baptists would benefit from a list like this “in order to gain a clearer picture of which churches are cooperating through the convention.”
“This list could include churches that seated messengers at the annual convention, completed an Annual Church Profile and/or gave through the Cooperative Program,” she said.
Wellman also said that the group believes the SBC constitution’s language in Article III that says a church in friendly cooperation “closely identifies” with the convention’s adopted statement of faith is “sufficient.”
He also said the group recommended that Southern Baptists use the language “not in friendly cooperation” in reference to churches that no longer closely identify with that statement of faith and refrain from using “disfellowshipped,” as it implies that the churches aren’t part of the Christian faith any longer.
The recommendations passed after messengers brought up two points of discussion from the floor.
Glenn LaRue, pastor of University Baptist Church in Middletown, Ohio, recommended striking the first sentence from Recommendation 2, saying that the wording implies the power to seat a messenger isn’t already vested in the messenger body. It is vested, he said, because even if the Executive Committee decides a church isn’t in friendly cooperation, that church can appeal and ultimately the messengers vote.
Wellman responded by saying that the purpose of the recommendation’s wording was to take the convention back to the arrangement before 2019 when the initial decisions were moved “outside the bounds” of the messengers’ vote and into the hands of the Executive Committee.
When put to a vote, LaRue’s amendment failed.
An amendment proposed by Paul Taylor, a messenger from First Baptist Church Mauriceville, Texas, to add to Recommendation 3 also failed. Taylor wanted the wording to include churches who affirm other historical Baptist statements of faith other than the BF&M 2000.
That amendment also failed.
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This story first appeared in The Baptist Paper.
