September 30, 2002
LISA Robertson (left) addresses the cooperative agreement with NAMB. Another Executive Board member (right) balances the reams of paper each board member had been given to read through as he speaks to an issue before the board. (Photos by Ferrell Foster/BGCT)
Executive Board removes BF&M
reference from agreement with SBC
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___DALLAS--How can the Baptist General Convention of Texas cooperate with the North American Mission Board without appearing to endorse NAMB's requirement that missionaries affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message?
___That question struck at the heart of an extended debate during the Sept. 24 meeting of the BGCT Executive Board as the board considered adopting a new "cooperative agreement" with NAMB.
___As an agency of the Southern BaptistConvention, NAMB now requires its missionaries--most of whom are jointly funded and appointed by state conventions and local associations--to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message. That doctrinal statement, however, has been rejected by the BGCT and has been the source of continued division between the national and state conventions. Critics contend it is a non-Baptist creed with a distorted view of Scripture, Jesus, local-church autonomy and women's roles in the home and church.
___Two recent missions review committees appointed by the BGCT recommended that Texas Baptists negotiate a new cooperative agreement with NAMB. The last such agreement--which governs the terms under which the two conventions perform joint ministries in the state--was adopted in 1991 with NAMB's predecessor organization, the SBC Home Mission Board.
___The draft document presented to the Executive Board was hammered out through a yearlong series of meetings between BGCT and NAMB representatives. It had been reviewed by the BGCT's State Missions Commission, Missions Review & Initiatives Committee and Administrative Committee.
___The new document explains that both NAMB and the BGCT "shall have equal opportunity to pursue their respective assignments." It governs only missions programs jointly engaged by the BGCT and NAMB and does not relate to missions work initiated by and fully funded by the BGCT or other Texas Baptist entities.
___The sticking point with Executive Board members arose in a paragraph describing personnel policies for Texas missions workers jointly supported by NAMB and the BGCT. That paragraph states: "Selection of jointly appointed personnel shall conform to current procedures and requirements of both entities. The Baptist General Convention of Texas and the North American Mission Board shall consult and concur on jointly supported personnel before election, appointment/approval and/or placement by the other entity. These personnel shall comply with the Baptist Faith & Message 2000."
___E.B. Brooks, coordinator of the BGCT's missions programs, told the board this language "applies specifically to persons presented to NAMB for future appointment, not to those currently appointed." He added that it also would not apply to volunteer mission workers, such as Mission Service Corps volunteers.
___Many BGCT churches continue to support NAMB and want the BGCT to work with NAMB, Brooks said. The language of the new cooperative agreement would allow the BGCT to maintain those ties while providing other means of funding for individuals, churches and associations opposed to NAMB's theological restrictions, he said.
___"This will not hinder us from doing our work," Brooks said.
___Numerous Executive Board members, however, expressed concern about the language they said appeared to endorse NAMB's position on the Baptist Faith & Message.
___Several said they were torn between a desire to maintain cooperation and a desire to refrain from any seeming affirmation of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.
___"I'm concerned about appearances," said Glen Schmucker, pastor of Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas.
___"If I vote in favor of (this recommendation), I'm going to hold my nose," quipped Wesley Shotwell, pastor of Ash Creek Baptist Church in Azle.
Mitch Randall addresses the cooperative agreement with NAMB.
___Mitch Randall, pastor of First Baptist Church of Bedford, recalled a speech given to the Executive Board earlier this year by BGCT President Bob Campbell. In that speech, Campbell compared the request of International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin that SBC missionaries sign an affirmation of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message to the Old Testament episode where King Nebuchadnezzar required the children of Israel to bow down to a golden idol.
___"We're not being made to bow down to it, but we are being made to curtsy to it," Randall surmised.
___George McCain, pastor of First Baptist Church in Royse City, said he too was "reluctantly supporting" the recommendation. While not liking the language of the document, "this does give those churches that want to have a relationship with NAMB the ability to do so," he said.
___Rudy Camacho, a longtime lay preacher and denominational leader from Fort Worth, said he was "fed up" with some NAMB-funded missionaries in Texas "trying to take our congregations away from us" by leading them to affiliate with the rival Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. The language of this cooperative agreement could only worsen that, he warned.
___Other board members said they understood the intention of Brooks and other BGCT administrators in implementing the policy with NAMB but feared most Texas Baptists would not see the nuances of the language.
___"When people in Texas see that sentence, they're not going to understand the understanding of it," said Lisa Robertson, a lay member of Southmont Baptist Church in Denton.
___Although not contentious, debate on the matter was passionate and extended. One attempt to call for the question and cut off debate was defeated.
___Two attempts were made to amend the disputed language of the document, with board members eventually approving removal of the sentence referencing the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.
___Michael Bell, pastor of Greater St. Stephen Baptist Church in Fort Worth, spoke in favor of the amended document, explaining that the remaining language in that paragraph is "a large enough nail for NAMB to hang their hat on" without requiring the BGCT to endorse NAMB's policy.
___Brooks explained that the sentence in question had been added late in negotiations by NAMB representatives. Whether NAMB will give final approval to the cooperative agreement without that sentence remains to be seen, he said.
___However, "leaving this sentence out changes neither the force nor the commitments of the agreement," Brooks said after the meeting. "We fully understand that anyone proposed for appointment by the North American Mission Board, though jointly supported, will be required to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message and conduct their ministry in accordance with it."
___The day after the Executive Board meeting, NAMB President Bob Reccord issued a statement to Baptist Press, saying he was "dumbfounded" by the Executive Board's action.
___"The North American Mission Board doesn't believe clear delineation of the foundational doctrinal beliefs held by our denomination, this entity and our missionaries to be redundant, but necessary," he said.
___"We thought we had arrived at an agreement that we could both present to our respective boards, but it appears the target continues to move," Reccord said. "It is difficult to arrive at an agreement when this happens."
___Reccord said he plans to present the original document without amendment to NAMB's trustees in October.
___
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