May 15, 2000
NAMB extends divorce policy
___FORT WORTH (BP)--Trustees of the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board have broadened the agency's divorce policy to include chaplains applying for endorsement by the SBC Chaplains Commission.
___The change was approved during the agency's recent meeting at NAMB's Broadcast Communication Center in Fort Worth, where trustees also appointed 33 missionaries, endorsed 24 chaplains and elected officers for the coming year.
___NAMB's policy on divorce previously applied to individuals appointed and approved as missionaries. The policy now applies to chaplains seeking SBC endorsement after May 3.
___The policy states that "divorced people will rarely, and only under unusual circumstances, be appointed, approved or endorsed for mission service." Sexual unfaithfulness by one's partner and desertion by one's partner are cited in the policy as biblical rationale for possible divorce exceptions.
___Kelley Burris, NAMB trustee from Virginia Beach, Va., and chairman of the task force that studied and brought the recommendation to the full board, acknowledged the policy was a sensitive issue. But, he said, the action was necessary in order to "apply biblical principles consistently to missionaries and chaplains alike."
___"We all have our own opinions," Burris said, "but putting mission personnel and chaplains under the same guidelines would be for the greater good, representing the North American Mission Board and the Southern Baptist Convention."
___In addition, NAMB's divorce policy was extended to cover the wives of future candidates if the wife previously was married and divorced. Men who have experienced a "biblical divorce" will only be considered for a pastoral role if they have not remarried. The policy allows for divorced individuals to serve in non-pastoral roles "if the divorce is determined to be biblically based."
___Trustee Jesse Lott from Morganton, N.C., asked if the policy applied to Mission Service Corps volunteers, adult volunteers who commit to serve at least 20 hours per week and at least four months in an approved ministry position, often in partnership with state Baptist conventions and/or associations.
___Burris explained the divorce guidelines are applied to Mission Service Corps volunteers serving in a pastoral role but not to those in other ministry positions.
___The revised policy passed with one dissenting vote.
___Danny Souder, pastor of Northlake Baptist Church in Dallas, was elected chairman of NAMB's trustees. Skip Owens of Charleston, S.C., was selected as first vice chairman, and Mark Hickman of Scottsdale, Ariz., as second vice chairman.
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