Churches withdraw from BSCNC

                                                                                                                                                                   Vol. XX, No. 2, February 2007

[The following is reprinted from an article in the Biblical Recorder, 23 December 2006.]

First Baptist Church in Henderson and Wingate Baptist Church in Wingate have cut ties with the Baptist State Convention (BSC), becoming the first churches to withdraw since the BSC dealt with several contentious issues at its annual meeting in November.

Another N.C. Baptist church, Millbrook Baptist Church in Raleigh, voted Nov. 15 not to send money to the BSC next year, a move that it says effectively severs ties between the two groups.

The three churches bring to nine the number of churches known to the Biblical Recorder that have publicly pulled out of the BSC in the last four years as the convention has become increasingly conservative. ...

Two other churches have pulled out because they felt the BSC was not conservative enough.

[Editorial Comment: The members of each level of Southern Baptist polity (local church, state convention, and national convention) are autonomous and, as such, have the right and obligation to affiliate with (and in the case of state conventions and the SBC, to exclude) whatever group or groups they wish. Regret always accompanies severing long-standing ties, but if a church and the state convention hold strongly opposed views, it is best for each to go its own way and serve the Lord as the believe best. The departure of these nine liberal churches will help unify the BSCNC and make its witness stronger. Likewise, as these departing churches work more closely with others of like mind. TCP]