c. 2003 Religion News Service
PHOENIX _ Southern Baptists closed one of their most slimly attended and least-contentious conventions in decades Wednesday (June 18) after focusing on issues they’ve long cared about _ supporting traditional families, opposing homosexuality and sending missionaries.
But messengers, as delegates are called, were also told that because of money woes created by a budget shortfall, their foreign mission agency has recently cut jobs and deferred appointments of some missionaries.
“How will we give an account to God for our failure to send those who are being called out of our churches for such a time as this?” asked International Mission Board President Jerry Rankin at the close of the two-day meeting at the Phoenix Civic Plaza.
As a result of a request by a messenger to the meeting, the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee said it will consider whether to ask all Southern Baptist churches to take a one-time special offering in July to help fund those deferred missionaries.
On the family front, the pastors’ conference that immediately preceded the annual Southern Baptist Convention featured a “Kingdom Family Rally” that kicked off a new emphasis encouraging Southern Baptists to strengthen their families. More than 3,000 families attending the meetings signed a covenant committing them to “seven pillars of the Kingdom Family,” including honoring God, respecting human life and serving their church.
The Rev. Tom Elliff, chairman of the Southern Baptist Council on Family Life, called the Kingdom Family initiative “the first log in the fire” of the Empowering Kingdom Growth, or EKG, movement that Southern Baptists are emphasizing to foster spiritual renewal within their ranks.
While the rally boosted attendance of families at the annual meeting of Southern Baptists, the convention itself had the lowest attendance in more than five decades. The total number of registered messengers was 7,078. According to Southern Baptist statistics, that is the lowest registration number since the 1951 meeting in San Francisco. The highest number of registrants _ 45,519 _ attended the 1985 meeting in Dallas.
Jack Graham, a Dallas-area pastor who was re-elected to a second one-year term as president, said the numbers did not surprise him.
“This is not the homeland or the heartland of Southern Baptists, but it is (in) our heart to move westward,” he said of the 16.2 million-member denomination.
During the meeting, messengers launched an initiative called “The Way Out” that affirms “ex-gay” ministries and encourages Southern Baptist churches to offer them. A joint project of two divisions of the denomination, it includes Web site resources, such as articles, research, Bible studies and links to other ministries that believe people can overcome homosexuality with a Christian approach.
Messengers at the meeting also overwhelmingly adopted a resolution opposing the legalization of same-sex marriages and criticizing media, entertainment outlets and public schools that have made efforts to “mainstream homosexual unions in the eyes of our children.”
For the fourth year in a row, protesters from Soulforce, an interdenominational pro-gay group, stood outside the convention center and attempted to speak with Baptists entering and departing the meeting.
In other business:
_ Baptists adopted a budget that reduces funding of the Baptist World Alliance from $425,000 to $300,000. This action prompted discussion among critics and supporters of the alliance, which is considering a request for membership from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a moderate group that formed to counter the conservative direction of the Southern Baptist Convention. The remaining $125,000 will be used for a new “kingdom relationships” initiative, which intends to link Southern Baptists with “other like-minded Christian bodies” worldwide.
_ The president of the North American Mission Board assured concerned military chaplains that board trustees will reconsider whether the denomination should require military chaplains to be ordained before they are endorsed by SBC officials. Robert Reccord said the trustees want to honor chaplains while adhering to the denomination’s faith statement by not endorsing ordained women chaplains.
“We have found that no policy ever existed requiring ordination for the military chaplaincy” but there have been verbal or written cases that indicated a requirement, he said.
_ Messengers adopted resolutions urging Southern Baptist churches to “recognize the gravity of the AIDS crisis,” supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom as “a warranted action based upon historic principles of just war,” and condemning increasing worldwide anti-Semitism as “contrary to the teachings of our Messiah.”
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