SBC Future, a Liberal Perspective

                                                                                                                           Vol. IV, No. 2, March 1991

Bill Leonard, professor at Southern Seminary, and Stan Hastey, Southern Baptist Alliance executive director, told a gathering of the northeast region of the SBA that they have revised earlier assessments and now believe a formal schism or establishment of an alternative denominational structure appears more distant and less certain than previously thought.

For the immediate future, Leonard said, some churches may break away but not in significant numbers. Unless viable alternatives are developed, he said, increasing numbers of moderate churches will be drawn into the new mainstream as the pool of moderate ministers declines and churches inevitably turn to more conservative pastors. He listed a range of denominational alignment options for moderates, beginning with a new alliance of Baptists that would include American Baptists, Southern Baptists, various African-American Baptist groups, and others. Some moderate churches may pursue dual alignment or outright affiliation with existing Baptist denominations, he suggested.

Another option is the creation of a new Baptist entity formed by moderate churches leaving the SBC. "Some believe that this will be the outcome of recent developments within the Fellowship which convened in Atlanta last August," he said, though he believes the Fellowship has a long way to go before becoming a new denomination. And many moderates will simply "hunker down," he said, and remain SBC participants, hoping things will change.

Hastey agreed and indicated, "My sense is that the [next Fellowship] meeting in May is absolutely critical to whether the Fellowship gets off the ground." He commented further, "I believe all of us would be better off if somehow there would be a formal division." Should the Fellowship become a new Baptist body, it would represent no more than 10 percent to 20 percent of existing Baptist churches, Hastey said. If no formal split occurs, he said, the SBA will be faced either with maintaining a loyal opposition role or becoming the vehicle that would lead a small number of congregations out of the SBC into the American Baptist denomination.

"What is becoming more apparent to me daily is that the dissolution of the old body (SBC) will take longer than many of us believed, even a few months ago," Hastey said. "Not many churches, not even Alliance churches, are yet ready to leave the old body." [BP]

Editorial comment: Hastey's estimate of "not more than 10 percent to 20 percent" of SBC churches leaving to join some new Fellowship group is almost certainly wildly optimistic (from his perspective). One percent to two percent would appear to be more in the realm of likelihood. TCP