YOUNG MINISTERS ENDORSE GIVING REPORT

A group of young Texas ministers held a press conference on October 5, 1994 at Park Cities Baptist Church, Dallas. The young ministers, all under 45 years of age, had signed their name to a document titled “A Statement of Support for the Recommendation of the Cooperative Giving Study Committee.”

The young ministers said “that all they have known since beginning their ministry is the SBC controversy” and they wanted Texas to move beyond the political quagmire. They considered this report a positive step in the direction of leaving divisive power politics behind.

The complete text of their statement is printed below.

A STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FOR THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE COOPERATIVE GIVING STUDY COMMITTEE

As younger Texas Baptist ministers, we support the recommendation of the Cooperative Giving Study Committee. Among our reason are the following:

*We have been recipients of a great heritage of cooperation in Texas Baptist life. We want to see a renewal of cooperative trust in our state.

*We have grown up in the quagmire of power politics, and we are weary of denominational mudslinging. We believe this giving plan will move us to higher ground.

*We believe Texas Baptist can nurture cooperation by honoring unity and diversity. Unified giving grows in the garden of freedom, not in the brier patch of coercion and exclusion.

*We believe this plan is equally fair to every Texas Baptist church. It honors the autonomy of each and blesses the involvement of all.

*We believe that the viability of the Baptist General Convention of Texas as a mission force in the 21st Century will be greatly enhance by such a plan.

September 1994