September 25, 2000
Executive Committee won't review ecumenical ties
___By Bob Allen
___Associated Baptist Press
___NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP)--The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee has declined to study the use of Cooperative Program funds in joint efforts with groups whose beliefs "conflict with the witness of Southern Baptists."
___Responding to a motion referred by convention messengers last summer, the Executive Committee reported Sept. 18 that trustees and staffs of the various denominational entities "assure the Southern Baptist Convention that they are maintaining the historic position of Southern Baptists as they cooperate with various other groups in appropriate evangelistic enterprises or moral-advocacy initiatives."
___The proposal for a study at last summer's annual meeting was a second attempt by a Louisiana pastor critical of alignments for missions and on social issues with groups that he says preach a "different gospel" from Southern Baptists.
___Jerry Moser, pastor of Bayou DuLarge Baptist Church in Theriot, La., first criticized Southern Baptist leaders several years ago for signing on to an "Evangelical and Catholics Together" document that, among other things, defined Christians as either those who are born again or receive grace through sacraments.
___More recently, he has questioned involvement with umbrella evangelistic groups like Mission America and AD2000 that he says include organizations with radically different views than Southern Baptists. Working alongside those groups, he said, raises questions about what Southern Baptists believe.
___In a self-study requested by the Executive Committee last year, however, leaders of SBC entities reported they "are not committing Southern Baptist resources, personnel or ministries to relationships which would compromise the historic distinctives or the unique witness of Southern Baptists to the world," the Executive Committee said.
___In other business at the Sept. 18-19 meeting, the Executive Committee approved changes to a bylaw giving the Executive Committee president more authority in hiring and firing staff.
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