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| FLANKED by current and former international missionaries, Keith Parks introduces the report of the BGCT's Missions Review and Initiatives Committee. He chairs a networking initiatives subcommittee. |
BGCT establishes transitional fund
for IMB missionaries who won't sign
___By Marv Knox
___Editor
___The Baptist General Convention of Texas has established a transition fund to help missionaries who will lose or relinquish their ministries rather than affirm a new "instrument of doctrinal accountability" required by the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board.
___The fund is the centerpiece of the BGCT's five-part response to the mission board's requirement that its missionaries affirm in writing the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message statement. The fund will help the missionaries with such immediate needs as housing, food, schooling and grief counseling.
___The BGCT Executive Board approved the package of responses with one dissenting vote Feb. 26 in Dallas. Then the fund received an immediate boost. Eleven prominent Texas Baptists stood to say they and seven colleagues already have committed $1 million to the fund, challenging others and churches to respond in kind.
___The missions issue surfaced in January, whe
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HERBERT REYNOLDS represents a group of 18 Texas Baptists, including some shown standing behind him, in announcing to the BGCT Executive Board their pledge to provide $1 million in initial money for the missionary transition fund.
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n IMB President Jerry Rankin announced all 5,100 missionaries appointed by the board would be required to affirm the controversial 2000 Baptist Faith & Message doctrinal statement or explain why not.
___About 1,500 missionaries appointed since the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message was adopted already have affirmed the document. But Rankin's mandate reversed policy for about 3,600 veteran missionaries, who were examined carefully before appointment and had not been required to sign an affirmation.
___Rankin's requirement triggered protests from missionaries on the field and churches stateside. The 2000 Baptist Faith & Message has been rejected twice by the BGCT, which has affirmed the more-inclusive 1963 Baptist Faith & Message.
___Shortly after Rankin's announcement, the BGCT Missions Review and Initiatives Committee--which had been created to study the state convention's missions relationships--initiated a series of called meetings to develop a response.
___The committee's report came midway through the Executive Board meeting, but the topic dominated discussion much earlier.
___BGCT President Bob Campbell compared the missionaries' situation to that of three ancient Hebrew young men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo, who refused to bow down and worship an idol of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Instead, they were thrown into a furnace but were protected by God.
___"There has been an idol set up" in the Southern Baptist Convention, Campbell said, referencing the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.
___The missionaries have been tempted to "bow down" by signing a creed, the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, in order to protect their jobs and reputations, he said.
___"'It is not enough to sign every page of the Bible,'" he said, paraphrasing the IMB president's advice to missionaries. "'We prefer a piece of paper that is not inerrant, not infallible. Sign this piece of paper, and all will be well.'"
___But like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo, some missionaries have resisted, Campbell reported. "Some brave men and women have not bowed down. ... Some brave men and women have said, 'Even if it costs us our jobs, we will not sign.'"
___Campbell sang the first verse of s 19th century hymn that begins, "My faith has found a resting place, not in device nor creed ... ."
___He paused near the end of that line, and the Executive Board audience joined with him to sing "nor creed ... ." Together, he and board members sang to the end of the verse: "I need no other argument; I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me."
___Looking to church history, Campbell noted: "Martin Luther did not want to break with the Roman Catholic Church; he was thrown out. There are men and women who do not want to break with Southern Baptist missions, but they might be thrown out. Will you help them? God help us."
___BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade noted Rankin had attempted to "soften the tone" of his letter to the missionaries in later comments but had not been convincing.
___"We have no reason to feel comfortable that the missionaries (who refuse to sign) are not now under serious attack from their own administrators and board," Wade said. "We have reason to believe the IMB trustees will press to remove these missionaries if the president does not do so."
___"We would be happy if the IMB should respond to our call for them to pull back from this forcing upon faithful, long-term missionaries a confession of faith which is being used as a creed," Wade said. "But we must put in place a response mechanism now."
___Since the board will not meet again until May, fired or resigned missionaries would not be able to wait for a later response, he explained.
___"There are many questions and not enough answers today," Wade acknowledged. "But the call to stand by those who are being asked to put either their calling or conscience at risk cannot go unanswered.
___"We must provide places of refuge and renewal, places of warm acceptance and dependable support, places where dreams of serving God can become reality again. I believe Texas Baptist churches and people want to do this, and they want us to help them find a way to do it."
___The Missions Review and Initiatives Committee presented a five-part recommendation for helping the missionaries. The response includes:
___ The transition fund, which will "meet needs of these missionaries at this difficult time in their lives."
___ Instructions telling the BGCT Administrative Committee to "establish a way for Texas Baptists to contribute to that fund."
___ A directive that the BGCT Executive Board staff "actively seek churches and institutions that will assist in caring for these missionaries."
___ A mandate for the BGCT to "work with other Baptist groups who share this concern."
___ Instructions back to the Missions Review and Initiatives Committee to "explore positive and proactive ways in which the churches and institutions of the BGCT can encourage and assist these missionaries to express their God-given calling." This report is to be delivered when the Executive Board meets Sept. 24.
___The recommendations did not call for the BGCT to begin appointing international missionaries.
___The Missions Review and Initiatives Committee--which follows a previous missions study committee--did not intend to issue its first report until September, noted committee Chairman Clyde Glazener, pastor of Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth.
___However, "Jerry Rankin's letter put us on special response alert," Glazener said.
___That alert has been heightened by testimony from the mission field, said Keith Parks, a member of the missions committee and former leader of both the SBC Foreign Mission Board and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship global missions program.
___In the previous two weeks, more than 60 missionary couples have contacted the committee through confidential e-mails to indicate they cannot sign the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message affirmation form.
___Surrounded by 11 current or former foreign missionaries, Parks read from several letters from missionaries. The letters detailed grief felt at being forced to choose between conscience and calling, broken trust between IMB administrators and missionaries, as well as shock at "tyranny of control and manipulation by fear."
___"Before we meet again, some missionaries may be out of a job, out of a salary, out of a place to live," Parks said. "We don't believe any Baptist would want this to happen."
___During discussion of the proposal, Jeff Williams, an Executive Board member and pastor of First Baptist Church in Denton, asked what would happen if the fund were created but no missionaries resign or are fired.
___Brian Harbour, Executive Board chairman and pastor of First Baptist Church in Richardson, noted at least 60 couples have said they will leave the board.
___"Some have indicated their trust has been broken to the point they cannot continue to serve," Parks added. "We don't know how many," he conceded, predicting, "It won't be in the hundreds."
___"If there is only one missionary family who for conscience's sake has to return, I will be honored to stand beside them and embarrassed if I fail to do so," Wade said.
___The relief fund will not be limited to missionaries from Texas, Parks said. However, it is to be used for cases "specifically related to this issue," not resignations related to other topics.
___Immediately after the vote, Herbert Reynolds, president emeritus of Baylor University in Waco, read "An Open Declaration to Texas Baptists."
___Flanking him were 11 of 18 prominent Texas Baptists who had signed the document.
___"The individuals you see standing before you have come to this meeting to indicate our strong support for the recommendation brought to you today to aid our missionaries that decide, as an act of personal integrity, that they cannot sign a creed," Reynolds read.
___"We especially want to express our profound respect for any missionary who, with great courage and complete conviction, refuses to abdicate his or her commitment to serve under the Bible rather than serving under a creed developed by a small group of people--and now enforced in all segments of Southern Baptist life.
___"These people, and many others who have already left the mission field because of the authoritarian rule of the International Mission Board, are acting in accord with beliefs that true Baptists have held for centuries."
___The statement quoted the late George W. Truett, Texas Baptist statesman and longtime pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas: "Baptists have one consistent record concerning religious liberty throughout their long and eventful history. They have never been a party to oppression of conscience. They have forever been the unwavering champions of liberty, both religious and civil."
___The International Mission Board's violation of that principle has created "a defining moment in the history of our Baptist missionary endeavors," Reynolds said.
___The 18 signers of the statement have pledged $1 million to launch the fund, Reynolds said.
___In addition to Reynolds, signers include John Baugh of Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston; Michael Bell, Greater St. Stephen Baptist Church, Fort Worth; Bill Brian, First Baptist Church, Amarillo; Rudy Camacho, immediate past president of Hispanic Baptist Convention, Fort Worth; Debbie Ferrier, Tallowood Baptist Church, Houston;
___Ophelia Humphrey, First Baptist Church, Amarillo; Dick Hurst, First Baptist Church, Tyler; Dan Malone, First Baptist Church, El Paso; Winfred Moore, past president of the BGCT, First Baptist Church, Waco; Fred Norton, First Baptist Church, Texarkana; Billy Ray Parmer, First Baptist Church, Lorenzo; Paul Powell, past president of the BGCT and dean of Truett Seminary at Baylor University in Waco;
___Dewey Presley, Park Cities Baptist Church, Dallas; Ella Wall Prichard, First Baptist Church, Corpus Christi; William Reddell, First Baptist Church, San Antonio; Albert Reyes, president of Hispanic Baptist Theological School, San Antonio; John Wilkerson, First Baptist Church, Lubbock.
___In a news conference, Glazener and Parks noted the recommendations only commit the BGCT to support missionaries who forfeit their jobs because they refuse to sign the Baptist Faith & Message affirmation. It does not provide for the BGCT to become a missions-sending agency, although the Missions Review and Initiatives Committee will consider its options leading up to its September report.
___Parks said the committee currently can offer no specifics about those possibilities. But he said he's convinced Texas Baptists will engage in missions. "Because it's so basic to us, I'm confident Texas Baptists will continue to be part of a global missions effort."
___That new fund will not provide salaries for missionaries to stay on the field under a different banner, he added.
___"This is for transition of missionaries who feel they must come home," he said, noting it could help pay for "housing, food, schooling, grief counseling, whatever is needed."
___"We see this as a transition into whatever," he added. "And the 'whatever' is what we'll present in September."
___The Baptist Standard contacted Rankin's office for comment the day of the Executive Board action and again the next day, which was the Standard's publication deadline.
___IMB spokeswoman Wendy Norvelle offered this response Wednesday, Feb. 27: "The senior leadership at the IMB has been involved today in the commissioning of 230 missionaries as they complete their traininig and depart for their overseas assignments. They have not had the opportunity to focus on the actions taken yesterday by the BGCT and therefore do not have a response in time to meet press deadlines."
___An editorial piece written by Rankin about why missionaries were asked to sign the affirmation of the Baptist Faith & Message is posted online here.
___In that piece, Rankin writes: "Critics are implying that missionaries are being coerced into doctrinal conformity and that creedal beliefs are being imposed. On the contrary, missionaries are being asked to sign a statement that their own beliefs are consistent with the current Baptist Faith & Message and that they will carry out their work in accordance with it."
___He also writes that the reason he has asked them to "reaffirm their beliefs in regard to the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message is to remove suspicions that their beliefs and practices could be inconsistent with our common confession of faith and move us forward in reaching a lost world."
___"Southern Baptists rightly expect the missionaries they send out and support to represent the confession of faith our churches have adopted. The administration of our mission entities should provide that assurance."
___Gifts designated "Missionary Transition Fund" should be sent to the BGCT at 333 N. Washington, Dallas 75246
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