Response from Daniel Vestal

8.21.01

The following statement has been issued by Daniel Vestal, coordinator for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, in response to the announcement by University Baptist Church, Austin, Texas, to withdraw from the Fellowship due to CBF’s administrative policy on homosexual behavior:

"The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has an administrative policy on homosexual behavior as it relates specifically to the employment of staff and missionaries and to the funding of theological education for persons called to local church ministry. This policy was approved by our Coordinating Council and by the General Assembly. At the same time, CBF remains steadfastly committed to the bedrock Baptist principle of the autonomy of every local church. I’m saddened that University Baptist Church, or any other church, would choose to use this administrative policy as a litmus test for cooperating with other congregations in global missions and ministries through the Fellowship."
-- Daniel Vestal became CBF Coordinator in December 1996, following three decades of ministry as a Baptist pastor.


Background

CBF’s Personnel and Administrative Funding Policy

As Baptist Christians, we believe that the foundation of a Christian sexual ethic is faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman and celibacy in singleness. We also believe in the love and grace of God for all people, both for those who live by this understanding of the biblical standard and those who do not. We treasure the freedom of individual conscience and the autonomy of the local church, and we also believe that congregational leaders should be persons of moral integrity whose lives exemplify the highest standards of Christian conduct and character.
Because of this organizational value, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship does not allow for the expenditure of funds for organizations or causes that condone, advocate or affirm homosexual practice. Neither does this CBF organizational value allow for the purposeful hiring of a staff person or the sending of a missionary who is a practicing homosexual.



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