Alliance Actions

by R. Albert Mohler                                                                                              Vol. V, No. 3, June 1992

The annual convocation of the Southern Baptist Alliance met in Charlotte March 5-7 and voted unanimously to change their name to "The Alliance of Baptists, Inc." The change has considerable symbolic value. "Many of us no longer consider ourselves Southern Baptists," explained Stan Hastey, the Alliance's executive director. In his address Hastey said, "we must face the fact that our movement's growth has been stalled." The Alliance reports 133 "affiliated congregations" with a total membership of 73,000. Hastey noted the Alliance is "largely a regional group" with 71% of its members living in Virginia, Maryland, D.C., and North Carolina.

The relationship of the Alliance to the larger Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) was also a topic of much discussion. Hastey reported that 43 of the 495 churches giving through the CBF are also affiliated with the Alliance. Despite the fact that the CBF dwarfs the Alliance in size, Hastey asserted the Alliance has provided much of the leadership for the CBF. John Hewett, pastor of First Church, Asheville, moderator of the CBF and also a member of the Alliance, brought greetings from the Fellowship. He told the group they have been "at the center of the Fellowship from the very beginning." Representatives from the American Baptist Churches, USA, were also highly visible at the meeting. Hastey told the convocation he is committed "to encouraging Alliance churches to explore the prospect of dual affiliation" with the American Baptists.

Mahan Siler, pastor of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh, which has "blessed the union" of two homosexual men, led a workshop on "Churches Responding to Homosexual Persons." Pullen Church is affiliated with the Alliance, and Siler is a member of the Alliance's board of directors. [BP]