November 6, 2000
EDITORIAL:
Decision made; history awaits
___Texas Baptists made significant decisions last week in Corpus Christi. We will make history in coming months as our churches respond to those decisions.
___The Baptist General Convention of Texas voted to reallocate about $4 million from the six Southern Baptist Convention seminaries to three ministry-training schools affiliated with the BGCT. The state convention also voted to redirect about $1 million from the SBC Executive Committee and Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission to three BGCT causes--Hispanic ministry, human welfare needs and moral concerns.
___As significant as it seems, money is not the primary issue. The major issue is the relationship between the state and national conventions. The votes indicated disapproval by BGCT messengers of the way the SBC is training ministers, conducting its public affairs operation and managing the overall organization. They indicated a resolve not to follow the ever-rightward path taken by national convention leadership and agencies, a path that increasingly denies sacred Baptist doctrines and forsakes traditional Baptist principles.
___The state of this relationship did not deteriorate quickly. It began to erode more than two decades ago, when a group of political/theological conservatives set out to gain control of the SBC. It gained passion for many Texas Baptists when a leader of the national movement vowed to take over the BGCT, Baylor University and the Baptist Standard. It increased impetus in the past decade, as moderate Southern Baptists were removed from meaningful participation in the convention. And it took its present shape in the past year, as a BGCT committee studied the status of SBC seminaries and as the SBC amended the Baptist Faith & Message statement in ways that violated the consciences of many Texas Baptists.
___By the time BGCT messengers raised their ballots to determine the seminary recommendations, the vote was not close. Some messengers criticized the debate procedure, which did not produce the most articulate of opposition. But that's the nature of democratic debate. The computer that directs the flow of discussion is impartial; "for" and "against" speakers are recognized in the order in which the messengers who wish to speak register their requests. Just as Baptists believe the ground is level at the foot of the Cross, the floor is level at the base of the microphones. And when messengers were through speaking, their show-of-ballots vote was decisive. The vote was at least 3-to-1 in favor of the recommendations, as was clear to tellers on the platform and media from the mezzanine level.
___Now, however, Texas Baptist churches will make history as they "vote" with their budgets. In the next year or so, we will know exactly how BGCT congregations want to fund Baptist causes, because they will be allowed to do so. And that's the beauty of the BGCT way of working together. Rather than giving churches an either/or take-it-or-leave-it option, the BGCT has allowed and will continue to allow churches to direct their Cooperative Program funds exactly as they wish. Yes, the BGCT has adopted a "preferred" budget that reduces some SBC funding, but churches still can direct their gifts to the state or national causes of their choosing. Texas Baptists honor freedom, and we protect others' freedom, even when we disagree.
___"Freedom" should be the watchword for Texas Baptists who worry that this denominational issue will destroy unity in our churches. Of course, change is uncomfortable, just as studying important matters requires effort. But churches that practice discipline can learn and understand what is at issue. And churches that practice grace can accommodate the consciences of all their members in harmonious unity. The only reason a church might fight or divide would be if a person or small group refuses to allow others to exercise freedom to support the causes they hold dear.
___Encourage your church to allow all members or families to direct the Cooperative Program portion of their tithes to Baptist causes exactly as they choose. They will have no need to argue over Baptist budgets, because they all will be respected. Then, let us all support those causes--local, state, national and global--with enthusiastic abandon, giving of our blessings extravagantly and sacrificially, that God's word would be put to work and that the whole world might know that Jesus saves.
___ Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com
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