EDITORIAL:
When will BGCT money no longer be good enough?
___If consistency ever prevails, a recent decision by Morris Chapman, president and chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee, could have a profound impact on the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___Chapman has determined the SBC will not accept Cooperative Program unified budget funds from the new Baptist General Convention of Missouri. He declared the new convention is not in "friendly cooperation" with the SBC and thus does not deserve to have its tithes and offerings declared part of the Cooperative Program.
___The Baptist General Convention of Missouri is being formed in protest against the older Missouri Baptist Convention, which has come under fundamentalist control in recent years. The Missouri Baptist Convention relates very closely to the Southern Baptist Convention and its fundamentalist leadership. Still, organizers of the new Baptist General Convention of Missouri have indicated they want to allow their affiliated churches to continue to support the SBC through the Cooperative Program.
___However, organizers of the new Baptist General Convention of Missouri also want to offer their affiliated churches options for supporting five Missouri Baptist institutions that created self-perpetuating boards rather than succumb to fundamentalist control. And they resist telling those churches how they must conduct their business and with whom they can and cannot partner.
___The Missouri scenario parallels in reverse situations in Texas and Virginia. Fundamentalists who wish to distance themselves from the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Baptist General Association of Virginia have formed the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia. They have criticized the older Texas and Virginia conventions for not affirming the fundamentalist agenda that has dominated and reshaped the SBC during the past decade.
___The difference between Missouri and Texas and Virginia is the SBC has rebuffed the new Missouri convention while embracing the new Texas and Virginia conventions with open arms.
___"I cannot recommend the Southern Baptist Convention enter into a relationship with your proposed new Baptist state convention in Missouri whereby you would collect Cooperative Program gifts to forward to us," Chapman wrote in a letter to Jim Hill, one of the organizers of the new Missouri convention. "A state convention is to be in 'friendly cooperation' with the Southern Baptist Convention. The Missouri Baptist Convention remains our Cooperative Program collection agent for Baptist churches in Missouri."
___The new Missouri convention fails the "friendly cooperation" test because it "is so openly in disagreement with the SBC," Chapman said. He cited as evidence the new convention's plan to offer churches multiple giving options, so that some churches might choose to send funds to the SBC while others might not. He also cited the new convention's intention to "welcome relationships" with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
___To recap: The new Baptist General Convention of Missouri cannot participate in the Cooperative Program because it will allow its churches to exercise their autonomy and support multiple causes. Meanwhile, the new Texas and Virginia conventions will be welcomed because they only relate to the SBC.
___So far, so good.
___However, if Chapman intends to be logically consistent, when will he tell the older, established Baptist General Convention of Texas and Baptist General Association of Virginia they no longer can send their gifts to the Cooperative Program?
___A Baptist Press story quotes Chapman as saying the new conventions in Texas and Virginia were created "only after the original state conventions had corrupted the historic meaning of the Cooperative Program" by creating multiple-giving options. Conversely, the older Missouri Baptist Convention has "remained a loyal, committed partner in SBC missions."
___A logical analysis of Chapman's statements shows he believes the older BGCT and BGAV to be disloyal, if, by example, the older Missouri convention is "loyal." And since Chapman interprets the new Missouri convention as not being in "friendly cooperation" with the SBC because it allows multiple giving options and church relationships with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, then he obviously believes the BGCT and the BGAV are not in "friendly cooperation" with the national convention.
___But he continues to accept our Cooperative Program money. And it's a lot of money. Last year, the BGCT sent the SBC more than $18.2 million in Cooperative Program funds. By contrast, the 104 churches that sent representatives to an organizational meeting for the new Missouri convention would be likely to offer only about $1.3 million.
___Still, the leader of the nation's largest evangelical denomination should be consistent. By his own standards, the new Missouri convention should be treated like the old Texas and Virginia conventions.
___If he decides to be consistent, will he accept their money or reject ours?
___ —Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com
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