September 18, 2000
EDITORIAL:
Look past sadness toward hope
___Profound sadness tempered by resolute hopefulness pervaded the room last week, as the Baptist General Convention of Texas' Administrative Committee considered redistributing funds away from selected Southern Baptist Convention causes.
___The committee affirmed a proposal to redirect $4.3 million of the $5.3 million allocated to the six SBC seminaries to three Texas Baptist schools that train ministers. The committee voted to reallocate about $1 million now sent to the SBC Executive Committee and Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, channeling that money to fund Hispanic ministry, human welfare relief and ethics ministries in Texas. The recommendations will be considered by the BGCT Executive Board Sept. 26 and messengers to the BGCT annual session Oct. 30-31.
___Opponents of these proposals portray the BGCT as a rogue convention, gleefully bent on the destruction of the SBC. This is false. At least 13 members of the 16-member BGCT Seminary Study Committee are graduates of SBC seminaries, as are at least seven Administrative Committee members and all the staff who assist the committees' work. Their pain was palpable. They grieved over the recommendation to drastically reduce BGCT funding for their seminaries. Worse, they grieved over the sad realization of what their seminaries have become.
___"The committee's work was undertaken with prayer, integrity and, ultimately, sadness," the study committee report states. "Research revealed the practical and theologically sound education of a generation ago is no longer possible in the SBC seminaries today. Political agendas, fundamentalism, faculty attrition and the redirection of resources and teaching have left the SBC seminaries a shadow of their former selves."
___Please study the committee's report for yourself, so that you will understand the recommendation and the reasons behind it. The Baptist Standard's coverage of this issue begins on page 2. Also, the report is available at our website, www.baptiststandard.com, or from the Baptist General Convention of Texas, 333 N. Washington, Dallas 75246-1798. The time you spend with this 44-page document and its attachments will be well-spent.
___Ironically, charges of heresy in the SBC seminaries fueled the political juggernaut that gained control of the national convention during the past two decades. Fundamentalist leaders rallied well-meaning conservative Baptists to their cause by claiming seminary professors and other denominational workers didn't believe the Bible. The political ploy worked, and they won their battles.
___That's ironic because, as the study committee's research shows, the seminaries have tilted toward the heresies of fundamentalism, creedalism and, in selected cases, extreme Calvinism. Of course, the political lock on these schools now is absolute. Concerned Baptists who wish to preserve Baptist beliefs grounded in the Bible and faith in Christ must do something. So, they have created new avenues for providing strong ministerial training. And the committee's recommendations suggest avenues for funding them.
___Opponents of the BGCT budget recommendations claim they are leading the state convention to forsake Baptist heritage, destroy the Cooperative Program and narrow Texas Baptists' focus to within their own borders. This is false. The study committee's research shows the captors of SBC seminaries forsook Baptist identity and heritage, which Texas Baptists have championed. The Cooperative Program has been damaged, all right, but not by any Texas Baptist vote. It was wounded fatally as the SBC violated the trust of many Baptists and ostracized churches that have supported the convention far beyond the degree of support lent by most recent SBC presidents. And Texas Baptists forever have been big-hearted, missions-minded Christians. The BGCT has supplied the majority of Mission Service Corps volunteers and the lion's share of foreign missionaries. These trends are not likely to stop. Rather, our schools are likely to train increasing numbers of ministers whose passion is missions and who will touch lives with the gospel around the globe.
___And therein lies the hope of the recommendations before us. Rather than fund institutions that have proven themselves untrustworthy, courageous Texas Baptists have proposed providing increased support for worthy schools, and not just the schools, but the ministers of the gospel they will train.
___The Apostle Paul promised that in all things God works to bring about good for people who love him and who follow his call. These are difficult days, yet we may rest in God's promised presence and look through our sadness to a future filled with hope.
___ Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com
Send this story to a friend
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!