Short Spots

                                                                                                                                                                    Vol. XIV, No. 1, January 2001
 

CBF Growing? Among all the whoop-de-doo surrounding passage of the revised Baptist Faith & Message last June there have been assertions that CBF will grow enormously as dissatisfied churches leave the SBC and align with CBF. While too early for a final answer, an initial indicator gives no credence to such claims and may even point in the opposite direction. The September 2000 issue of fellowship!, the CBF journal, reports that in the CBF 1998-1999 budget year (which ends 30 June) 1,806 churches contributed. However, in the 1999-2000 fiscal year 1,803 churches contributed, a decrease of three churches. Dollar amounts increased from $15,091,818 to $15,703,475 or 4.05%. It will be interesting to read next year's report. [BP]

SC Church Dismissed: Boulevard BC, Anderson, SC, was dismissed from membership in Saluda Baptist Association at the association's annual meeting. In June the congregation decided to accept candidates for church membership who have not been immersed from churches of other faiths. "We do this with a heavy heart, but with a firm belief about what the Bible says, said the chairman of the credentials committee. "The issue is really believer's baptism, not just baptism by immersion," he stressed, noting that Boulevard's committee stated "meaningful baptism" could be interpreted as including infant baptism. After the associational meeting, Boulevard's pastor told reporters that Boulevard will "do church like we've been doing church. Boulevard is doing well and growing." He added that he felt the association's actions reflected "the widening gulf present in Baptist life these days. We're operating with two different visions of what it means to be Baptist." [Comment: In these latter comments Boulevard's pastor is correct. There is a widening gulf between those who believe in complete biblical authority and those who feel free to relax biblical standards for pragmatic reasons. It is notably ironic that the pastor spoke of "what it means to be Baptist" because the English word "Baptist" is merely a transliteration of the Greek word which means "immersion". TCP]

Mainstream Missouri Baptists Changes Focus: Associated Baptist Press reports the MMB has given up trying to "defend the Missouri Baptist Convention" from fundamentalism through political efforts", rather "the group will now offer a way for churches and individuals 'to support statewide ministries that still honor Baptist principles and heritage.'" From the conservative perspective one reads this as an acknowledgment that conservatives have won the battle for the Missouri state convention and so MMB has decided to continue to fight on another front. Missouri conservatives will need to continue their educational efforts with this in mind. [TCP]

Pope says all who live just lives are saved: Pope John Paul said 6 Dec. that persons who live a just life will be saved even if they don't believe in Jesus Christ. Addressing 30,000 pilgrims at the Vatican, the pope affirmed inclusive teaching from the Second Vatican Council and softened comments in a September document describing Roman Catholicism as the only "true" church and other faiths as "deficient." "The gospel teaches us that those who live in accordance with the Beatitudes -- the poor in spirit, the pure of heart, those who bear lovingly the sufferings of life -- will enter God's kingdom," John Paul said. "All who seek God with a sincere heart, including those who do not know Christ and his church, contribute under the influence of grace to the building of this kingdom." [ABP]

North Carolina CBF hires coordinator: A religious educator has been named first missions coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina. Jim Fowler, minister of education at Ardmore Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, was born in Paraguay to parents who were medical missionaries for the Southern Baptist Convention. In the new position, Fowler will promote volunteer and CBF Global Missions in the state, said North Carolina CBF Coordinator Bob Patterson. The North Carolina CBF chapter, which formed in 1999, has grown from 65 churches to about 130, Patterson said. [ABP]

Duke announces chapel policy allowing same-sex unions: Duke University will permit the celebration of same-sex unions in Duke Chapel, top administrators announced 5 Dec. The policy honors "a wonderful tradition of religious diversity" at Duke, President Nannerl Keohane and Dean William Willimon said in a letter announcing the decision. While the United Methodist Church, with which Duke is affiliated, does not permit such unions, Keohane and Willimon said the chapel is not tied to any particular denomination. Staff represent 20 different denominations, and some, including Unitarians, the United Church of Christ and some Baptists, have been developing liturgies for same-sex unions and wish to perform them in the chapel, the administrators added. A similar decision at Wake Forest University prompted efforts by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina to sever ties with the school in Winston-Salem. The new Duke Chapel policy also comes as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship studies how a new organizational value banning funding of institutions that "condone, advocate or affirm homosexual practice" might impact a "Baptist house of studies" that CBF currently supports at Duke. The Duke policy opens the chapel for same-sex ceremonies only for alumni, students, faculty, employees and their adult children. [ABP]