Two SBC-Related State Conventions Considered for Full BWA Membership
Two SBC - related state conventions may become full members of the Baptist World Alliance by June 2005– exactly one year after the SBC and BWA broke their historic 99-year relationship over theological disputes.
Two Southern Baptist Convention (SBC)-related state conventions may become full members of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) by June 2005– exactly one year after the SBC and BWA broke their historic 99-year relationship over theological disputes.
The BWA Executive Committee gave a “unanimous vote” to accept the applications for full membership of the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) and the Baptist General Association of Virginia (BGCV), during its March 9th meeting in Washington D.C.
Pending the final vote of international BWA members during the Alliance’s Centenary Congress in July, the BGCT and BGCV will become the first SBC-related state conventions to hold formal ties with the BWA outside of the national convention.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Last June, the 16-million-member SBC withdrew its membership and financial support to the BWA – an international alliance the Convention helped found 99 years ago. Since that time, the two mammoth bodies have been on rather sensitive terms; SBC officials continued to question the theological stances of the BWA, while the Alliance members charged the SBC of trying to mold the international body through power.
Following the division, BWA officials made known to the individual SBC-related state conventions and congregations that membership is still open to them outside of the SBC-BWA bind.
According to Alistair Brown, the chair of the executive committee, the BGCT and VBGC “expressed sadness” at the SBC’s withdrawal from the BWA and said that the SBC withdrawal had removed them from a “channel of fellowship with Baptists around the world”
In the application for full-fledged membership, Texas Baptist leaders wrote "... we offer ourselves to you. We passionately support the work of the BWA. Our vision is synchronized to your vision. We are honored to be considered part of the worldwide Baptist family. Praying for you is a privilege, not a burden."
Virginia Baptists wrote: "Virginia Baptists are serious about their call to share the gospel. We are no longer a frontier organization. We are an organization linked with Baptist friends around the world. The vision has grown to a global one. It is Virginia Baptists linked with BWA to take the gospel and love of Christ to every corner of the earth."
For full membership, a member body must have an identity of its own and must not be an integral part of some other union or convention.
According to the BWA, both groups “strongly asserted their independence and autonomy” from other bodies – including the SBC.
Both the BGCT and BGCV are part of the SBC’s loose network of churches nationwide. The state conventions cooperate with the SBC in many ways – according to BGCT officials, the Texas convention contributes more money than any other state convention to SBC missions and ministries.
However, the two bodies are part of a handful of SBC-affiliated conventions that have rejected the larger church’s 2000 Baptist Faith and Message Statement (BFMS). Instead, they adhere to the 1963 BFMS – a statement adopted prior to the “conservative resurgence” of the SBC in the late 70s.
They also rejected the SBC’s charge of “theological liberalism” against the BWA, and have thus moved forward to continue connecting – “emotionally” and financially – with the worldwide body.
The Virginia Association has 1,419 churches with a membership total of 407,556 with 42 district associations. On average it plants 30 new congregations each year. Last year it gave the BWA US$ 150,000.
The BWA General Council, which meets in Birmingham, England from July 27-31, will make the final decision for membership. If both of these groups are admitted, it will add to the membership of the BWA more than 3 million baptized believers and more than 7000 new churches.
