BGCT affirms 1963 doctrinal statement 
By Mark Wingfield,
The Baptist Standard

EL PASO--Texas Baptists will not go along with changes to the Baptist Faith & Message enacted by the Southern Baptist Convention.

By an overwhelming majority, messengers to the annual session of the Baptist General Convention of Texas voted Nov. 9 to make the 1963 Baptist Faith & Message the "unifying statement of our common faith and practice." That action excludes from Texas Baptists' doctrinal statement a controversial addition on family adopted by the SBC in 1998 as well as further changes expected to be enacted by the SBC next June.

Texas Baptists and the national SBC have been on divergent paths in recent years, as the SBC has come under control of more conservative leadership. As the gap between national and state positions has widened, BGCT leaders have claimed Texas Baptists have not moved.

"We haven't moved," said Clyde Glazener, newly elected BGCT president and pastor of Gambrell Street Baptist Church in Fort Worth. "We're still where we've always been."

The affirmation of the 1963 Baptist Faith & Message is a "statement that as Texas Baptists we haven't changed," added David Currie, executive director of Texas Baptists Committed. "It is a simple statement of 'This is who we are as Texas Baptists.'"

The SBC drew national attention in 1998 when it amended the Baptist Faith & Message for the first time in 35 years. That amendment added a section on family that says, among other things, that wives should "submit" to their husbands. Later that year, the BGCT adopted a resolution taking exception with the amendment.

The SBC last summer authorized another committee to make a more thorough review of the doctrinal statement. That committee, chaired by Adrian Rogers of Memphis, Tenn., is expected to recommend additional changes in the statement when the SBC meets in Orlando, Fla., in June.

Bob Newell, a messenger of Memorial Drive Baptist Church in Houston, made the motion for the state convention to affirm the 1963 "Baptist Faith and Message" and to distribute the statement to every BGCT-related church.

Paul Taylor of First Baptist Church in Mauriceville, attempted to amend Newell's motion to encompass the SBC's 1998 addition on family. "I believe it is a scriptural amendment," Taylor said. "I believe the BGCT should also follow the Scriptures."

Newell responded that he opposed Taylor's amendment, saying the desire to be scriptural is "precisely the reason we want to reject this amendment." "Scripture speaks of mutual submission, and the addition to the Baptist Faith & Message does not," Newell said.

When put to messengers, the amendment failed by an overwhelming majority on a show-of-ballots vote. Without further debate, messengers then approved the original motion to embrace the 1963 statement. The action drew immediate criticism from three SBC leaders, who faxed statements into the news room at the El Paso Convention Center.

"I am grateful the BGCT leadership has made crystal clear for the sake of Texas Baptist churches where they stand on family and church issues," said SBC President Paige Patterson, a native Texan who now is president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest N.C. "Now it is up to the churches to decide with whom they agree--with a liberal, culturally acceptable view of family and church or with a Christ-honoring, Bible-believing perspective."

Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. called the BGCT's action "an intentional rejection of a clear teaching of the Bible." "This is another lamentable sign of the determination of some Texas Baptist leaders to alienate Texas Baptists" from the SBC, he said.

Mohler, in his statement distributed to reporters in El Paso, accused Glazener of "denominational grandstanding" for telling the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that the SBC's statement on family was "Neanderthal."

Richard Land, a former Texan who now heads the SBC's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission in Nashville, Tenn., also weighed in with a statement defending the family amendment, which he helped draft.

"Let it be clearly understood that Dr. Glazener and those who support him in the intent of the BGCT's motion have a disagreement with the Apostle Paul, not merely with the Southern Baptist Convention," Land said. "As for me and my house, we are going to stick with the Apostle Paul," he added.

Glazener, when asked by reporters about Land's statement, said he didn't want to get into a confrontation with Land. However, he explained that not all Southern Baptists nor Texas Baptists concur with Land's interpretation of Paul's New Testament writings.

"The finest Greek scholar Southern Baptists have ever produced, A.T. Robertson, ... believed the early church had women deacons," Glazener said. "He's probably as sharp as Richard."

Constitutional amendment passes

Meanwhile, Texas Baptists moved toward opening their state convention to churches from other states with approval of the first of two required readings of a proposed constitutional amendment. The amendment, suggested by Phil Lineberger of Williams Trace Baptist Church in Sugar Land, would change wording in a section that describes how governing boards of BGCT agencies and institutions are elected. The constitution currently requires trustees to be "active members of cooperating Baptist churches in the state of Texas." Lineberger's amendment would change the phrase to "active members of cooperating Baptist General Convention of Texas churches."

"There are churches outside the borders of Texas that share in our vision and the kinds of ministries we're involved in," Lineberger told messengers. "Some of them want to be actively supporting of the BGCT. These churches should have full rights and privileges in the BGCT."

The motion was approved with little opposition. Constitutional amendments require approvals by two-thirds of messengers at two consecutive annual sessions. Lineberger's amendment must be considered a second time when the state convention convenes next year in Corpus Christi. While the proposal drew little discussion, it could have far-reaching implications.

Many Baptist state conventions have fallen in line with the conservative stance of the SBC. Moderates, left in the cold in their home states, might feel more at home with Texas Baptists. That is the impetus behind formation of a recently announced Baptist Association of the Southwest, which is expected to include churches from Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.

Others have suggested a larger role for Texas in an age of changing denominational identities. At a 1998 meeting of Texas Baptists Committed in Houston, Baylor University chancellor Herb Reynolds proposed creation of a Baptist Convention of the Americas that would span from North America to South America.

Technically, nothing in the current constitution prohibits a church from outside Texas from joining the BGCT. Lineberger's proposed amendment would remove the only impediment to non-Texas churches being eligible for leadership.

Committees to study seminaries, mission agencies

Texas Baptists also will undertake intensive studies in the coming year that could affect how they relate to national denominational entities such as mission boards and seminaries.

One motion approved by messengers called for a committee to study the "financial resources, theological positions and mission strategy and philosophy" of the SBC International Mission Board and North American Mission Board as well as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a national moderate group. Another established a committee to study the "financial resources, theological positions and philosophies of Southern Baptist and BGCT-supported seminaries."

Both committees are to be appointed by the BGCT president and newly elected chair of the BGCT Executive Board. Both committees are to report their findings to the Executive Board.

Motion passes for simplification

Another motion asked convention leaders to work "to develop a simplified budget system that is not as confusing as having five budget options while protecting the right of any church to give as they so choose." The various giving plans were developed primarily for moderates who did not want to support the traditional Cooperative Program unified budget that divides funds between the state convention and the SBC.

The study could result in major changes to the "default" giving plan, which is still used by a majority of Texas churches and sends millions of dollars each year to the SBC. Some moderates have contended that money would be better spent on theological schools and other entities in Texas.

The maker of the motion, however, said his intent is just to simplify the process for directing funds to the state convention. "The purpose of this amendment is that I am basically the assistant treasurer of The Woods Baptist Church," said Jim Kolb of Tyler. "Between myself and the pastor, we could not figure out how to fill out the form" churches send along with the contributions to the BGCT.

He asked convention leaders to "study how we can revise this form so an average person can fill it out."

December 1999