October 9, 2000
Florida to require allegiance to BF&M
___JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--Anyone appointed a trustee of a Florida Baptist Convention agency or institution will be required to affirm the 2000 version of the Baptist Faith & Message, if a recommendation from the convention's state board of missions is approved.
___The same requirement would be made of new employees hired by the state convention and of churches seeking "at large" affiliation with the convention.
___A bylaw revision endorsing the updated Baptist Faith & Message and adding the requirements for affirmation was approved by the state board of missions Sept. 8. It now goes to the annual meeting of the Florida Baptist Convention for messenger approval.
___If adopted, the Florida convention would be the first state Baptist convention to make affirmation of the new faith statement a requirement for trustee service or staff employment.
___Though strongly endorsed by Southern Baptist Convention leaders, the revisions have not gained uniform acceptance among Southern Baptist churches and church members--or among state conventions.
___Opposition to the faith statement changes is a major factor driving Texas proposals to reduce funding for SBC seminaries and other SBC agencies. Critics in Texas and beyond have said the Baptist Faith & Message is being used as a creed and now elevates the Bible above Jesus.
___John Sullivan, executive director-treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention, acknowledged not all Florida Baptist churches will embrace the revised statement. But the state convention has the right to determine its own theological parameter, he added.
___"Some churches do not use the Baptist Faith & Message at all as their doctrine of faith, some still use the New Hampshire Confession of Faith, some are still using the 1925 Baptist Faith & Message, some may want to continue to use the 1963," he explained. "We cannot tell a church what Baptist Faith & Message they are to adopt, but we can say to them that if you're going to participate in the trustee life of the Florida Baptist Convention, it is the framework of the 2000.
___"So ... let the record show that the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message statement will serve as the theological framework for the ministry of the Florida Baptist Convention--so if there's any question in anyone's mind further about that, I hope this puts that to bed."
___Sullivan's position contrasts sharply with that of Charles Wade, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. In a June staff meeting, Wade told Texas convention employees he would never require them to sign a statement of faith or creed written by humans.
___In comments to the BGCT Executive Board last month, Wade added: "I will gladly sign God's word on every page, but I will not allow our people to be put in a position where they will have to sign man's word about God."
___Meanwhile, the Georgia Baptist Convention will be asked to affirm the revised Baptist Faith & Message but not make it an explicit requirement for employment or trusteeship.
___By a 73-23 vote, members of the Georgia Baptist Convention Executive Committee approved a resolution to be presented to the convention's annual meeting in November affirming the Baptist Faith & Message as having "great value as information, as a guide to interpretation, as a source of enlightenment and instruction concerning basic Baptist belief."
___The resolution also describes the document "while not being an official creed, and while possessing only such authority as voluntary acceptance imposes, as a general consensus of what Southern Baptists believe."
___The Georgia resolution calls upon the state convention to "recommend the circulation of (the Baptist Faith & Message) among the churches ... for information and interpretation; and also the publication and use of it in all proper and appropriate ways, to strengthen the doctrinal understanding and position of Baptists affiliating with the Georgia Baptist Convention."
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