February 24, 2003
'If we're not like-minded, who is?'
BWA executive asks SBC leaders
___By Trennis Henderson
___Kentucky Western Recorder
___CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky.--The proposal by Southern Baptist Convention leaders to reduce funding to the Baptist World Alliance "could not come at a worse time in world history," declared Denton Lotz, BWA general secretary.
___Lotz, who was in Kentucky last week to speak at Campbellsville University, said he is "really sad and disappointed" by the SBC Executive Committee action since BWA leaders "have bent over backward to accommodate the concerns of our Southern Baptist brothers and sisters."
___The SBC proposal to redirect $125,000 from BWA to a new Southern Baptist international initiative with
"like-minded Christian bodies" comes amid disagreement over the BWA's consideration of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship for membership.
___Lotz noted that the BWA has "included SBC leaders in our top leadership positions and decision-making bodies." SBC Executive Committee President Morris Chapman, for example, serves as a BWA vice president.
___Noting that one of the roles of BWA officers is raising funds for the alliance, Lotz said he is disappointed that Southern Baptist leaders are directing the effort to decrease BWA's funding.
___"In partially defunding the BWA, this SBC decision actually is reducing funding for our brothers and sisters around the world who are suffering from religious persecution, lack of human rights and generally all the prejudices of a minority movement in a clash of civilizations," he said.
___"If ever Baptists needed unity and to work together, it is now. How will our brothers and sisters in the two-thirds world react who love the BWA and would love to support us but are in poverty conditions?"
___Lotz said he fears the message being sent by SBC leaders to Baptists around the world is: "We do not need you. We will do it on our own and form our own alliances and networking."
___Citing the SBC proposal to strengthen relationships with "like-minded Christians," Lotz asked, "If Baptists in the Baptist World Alliance are not like-minded Christians, who are we then? Who are Baptists in Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, India, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Korea? Are we not all like-minded Christians?"
___Despite the funding proposal, "we love Southern Baptists and want them to participate in all of the life of the Baptist World Alliance," Lotz said. "Baptists of the world need you and want you to continue to support us to the fullest extent."
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