March 10, 2003
NAMB calls BGCT action 'regretful and frustrating'
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___ALPHARETTA, Ga.--Language in a cooperative missions agreement approved by the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board is "regretful and frustrating," according to Bob Reccord, president of the North American Mission Board.
___Reccord and Terry Fox, chairman of NAMB's board, responded March 7 to action by the BGCT Executive Board March 4 on a proposed cooperative agreement between the BGCT and NAMB.
___Negotiations on the document have been under way for more than a year, and both sides at various points have rejected changes made by the other. The sticking point in the document is NAMB's requirement that jointly fu
nded missionaries sign an affirmation of the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.
___The Southern Baptist Convention's new faith statement has not been embraced by the BGCT, although BGCT officials have said they are willing to work jointly with NAMB in supporting missionaries who are comfortable signing it. The BGCT also has said it will provide other means of funding for Texas missionaries who choose not to meet NAMB's mandate.
___In the latest action, the BGCT Executive Board approved a change proposed by NAMB and then added one s
"I'm very disappointed that the Baptist General Convention of Texas' Executive Board has again failed to affirm the proposed cooperative agreement approved by trustees of the North American Mission Board,"
--Terry Fox, chairman, NAMB board
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entence above the space where BGCT officials were to sign the document. That sentence reads: "Approved with the understanding that this indicates neither affirmation nor endorsement of the Baptist Faith & Message 2000."
___The BGCT addition falls under an all-capitals heading "BAPTIST GENERAL CONVENTION OF TEXAS" and is distinct from a section below where NAMB officials are to sign also labeled in all-capitals, "NORTH AMERICAN MISSION BOARD."
___The BGCT accepted a rewording required by NAMB officials elsewhere in the document that notes "NAMB's requirement" for jointly funded personnel "to conform to the Baptist Faith & Message 2000."
___Yet in a statement released to the media March 7, both Reccord and Fox accused the BGCT of failing to approve the cooperative agreement.
___"I'm very disappointed that the Baptist General Convention of Texas' Executive Board has again failed to affirm the proposed cooperative agreement approved by trustees of the North American Mission Board," Fox said.
___"This second failure of the Executive Board of the Baptist General Convention of Texas to affirm a proposed cooperative agreement between our two agencies is regretful and frustrating and places at risk the possibility that we could once again work cooperatively to reach Texas and North America for Christ," Reccord added.
___Fox labeled the BGCT's action as "yet another step away from the Southern Baptist Convention and our historic partnership to reach Texas and all of North America, and toward their new missions network and denominational independence."
___Reccord further criticized comments by BGCT missions leader E.B. Brooks to the Executive Board.
___A BGCT news release stated that Brooks, coordinator of the Church Missions and Evangelism Section, told the board "the BGCT will use funds retained in Texas to provide missions opportunities for those who cannot, in good conscience, affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message."
___Reccord labeled this comment "disturbing," charging the BGCT has withheld funds from NAMB for administration in Texas on "the pretense of efficiency" while really trying to fund missionaries who won't meet NAMB's strict doctrinal guidelines.
___The BGCT last year began retaining about $1.2 million in Cooperative Program funds that otherwise would have been passed through NAMB and then sent back to Texas for missions support. The BGCT still sends money to NAMB for use outside Texas--$7.75 million last year, including $2.9 million in Cooperative Program gifts and $4.6 million in Annie Armstrong Easter Offering gifts.
___The change was made, BGCT officials said, to reduce bureaucracy in dealing with NAMB and to make Texas mission work more flexible and responsive to current needs. Brooks has said on multiple occasions before that the BGCT would provide support for missionaries who did not want to be jointly appointed through NAMB.
___ Reccord said of Brooks' statement: "Since the BGCT unilaterally defunded NAMB two years ago, their staff has maintained that the 'retained' funds were being used for the cooperative work of the two agencies. Even the proposed cooperative agreement stipulates that those funds would be used according to a mission plan developed and approved by both agencies. Now, we learn the BGCT intends to use them for personnel who cannot affirm NAMB's doctrinal guidelines. For an agreement that is supposed to be cooperative, it's strange that this is the first we've heard of this. Is that cooperation?"
___A formal response to the BGCT is expected when NAMB trustees meet May 7.
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