A Time to Decide!                                                                 
                                                                                                                    Vol. XIV, No. 2, February 2001

[Quoted immediately below is the entire text of opening remarks by outgoing BGAV president Thomas McCann at the 14-15 November 2000 BGAV annual meeting in Roanoke. The audio version from which this is transcribed can be heard on the BGAV website www.vbmb.org. Following Dr. McCann's remarks I will provide a non-Baptist's point of view, cogent thoughts by the Mike Clingenpeel, editor of The Religious Herald, and follow-up with some comments of my own. TCP]

"Three weeks ago President Jimmy Carter issued a statement separating himself from the Southern Baptist Convention. Two weeks ago Texas Baptists met for their annual convention and voted 4 to 1 to alter their relationship with the Southern Baptist Convention by redirecting a substantial amount of money away from SBC agencies and institutions, preferring to make their own decisions about how Texas Baptists should spend their money. Their action was based in part on the work of Virginia Baptists who nearly a decade ago created a way for Virginia Baptist churches to decide on their own how they would fund kingdom work beyond their own congregations.

"Freedom to decide clearly underlies Virginia's system of funding world mission causes. It is that same love of freedom, for soul competency, for openness to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, that prompts historic Baptists everywhere to rebel against the theological and practical rigidity which has come to characterize today's Southern Baptist Convention.

"Historically, agreement on every nuance of theology and practice was not the hallmark of cooperating Baptists. We joined hands for the singular purpose of carrying out the Great Commission. We agreed on some things. We disagreed on others. But we never insisted on goose-step rigidity as we march into the future. As a people we have always been uneasy with confessions of faith. They have always been designed to identify ourselves to others, but to not define ourselves to each other. We have always rejected creedalism.

"Because of its magnitude, the recent action of Texas Baptists has attracted national attention. What Texans have done, added to what Virginia Baptists have already done, demonstrates that we are in the midst of a denominational upheaval. A revolution began in the 70s. It was based on the appointive power of the president. A counter-revolution began in the 90s. It was based on the budget power of state associations and local churches.

"It is clear to me that historic Virginia Baptists and the Southern Baptist Convention are on divergent paths. Virginia Baptists are one thing. The Southern Baptist Convention is something else. While we used to walk side by side, it is clear that the distance between us is growing. Relationships are not the same today as they were yesterday, and they will not be the same tomorrow.

"The Southern Baptist Convention holds title to vast amounts of property, but it cannot hold title to our hearts. To me it is unwise for Virginia Baptists to think that other people can decide better about how Virginia Baptists spend their money than Virginians can. To me it is unreasonable for Virginia Baptists to send their dollars to any group who deliberately refuses to include them in decisions about how those dollars ought to be spent.

"To me it is blind for Virginia Baptists to send Virginia dollars to any group who deliberately uses those dollars to undermine our very work. Remember, Virginia Baptists helped to create the Southern Baptist Convention. It is our child, not our parent.

"Clearly, it has grown away from us and no longer needs us. It is time to create something new. This year's proposed budget, through the new initiative of Acts 17, is a step in that direction. It earmarks $300,000 for starting new churches and revitalizing others, that would otherwise have left this state. It is a worthy start, but it is only a modest beginning.

"It has always been, and it is even now, time for authentic Virginia Baptists, indeed for authentic Baptists everywhere, to reclaim their birthright, to remember that every soul is competent to apprehend God, that all people are equal at the foot of the cross, and that diversity produces the raw material for effective witness.

"Authentic Baptists everywhere must assert their freedom to reach across artificial boundaries, to create new connections with new people, and to be true to their conscience and to their call. The world hungers for Christ, not for controversy.

"My fellow Virginia Baptists, we may not all agree. We never will. We may see things from different points of view, but we must always remember that we can all accomplish great things in this world so long as we keep Christ first in our minds, in our decisions, and in our actions.

"Honest differences must be respected, but must never be forced on others to the detriment of the successful advance of kingdom work.

"My people, may the Lord continue to bless the work of Virginia Baptists as we together, conservatives all, some a little less so than others, continue to walk hand in hand in the tradition of our fathers and our mothers into a brilliant future together. God bless you."

Comments: Cody Lowe writes for The Roanoke Times and his articles on Virginia Baptists have been published from time to time for a good many years. Here are excerpts from his article in the 19 November 2000 Times.

"There is a significant element of the leadership of the Virginia group [BGAV] that would just as soon leave the SBC behind today and forge new partnerships with other groups with which they have more in common. ...

"The root causes of this seemingly inevitable divorce are not trivial, not just about money. There are fundamental differences about faith, about what Christianity really is -- or should be. ...

"The only question now would appear to be just how long it will take the rest of the Baptist General Association of Virginia to decide when to file for divorce. And how or whether they will remarry."

Mike Clingenpeel is editor of the BGAV's state newspaper, The Religious Herald. In his editorial of 23 November he wrote, inter alia:

"Moderate Baptists clearly control the BGAV's elected leadership. They will set the tone and direction of Virginia Baptists' future relationship with national ministry partners such as the SBC, CBF, Alliance of Baptists and the Baptist World alliance.

"Here's the rub. Will moderate Virginia Baptists allow SBC-loyal Virginia Baptists a responsible place in the Virginia Baptist family circle?

"It is a question surely being asked by World Mission 1 churches, those whose mission giving goes to the SBC, after last week's meeting in Roanoke."

"...WM1 churches give 30 percent of the BGAV's total receipts. Tough anti-SBC rhetoric and tangible steps away from SBC ties may assuage the consciences of many Virginia moderates, but such steps could force WM1 churches to seek a state connection that is friendlier to their commitments. A 30 percent reduction in churches and mission gifts would surely hamper the BGAV's ministries. ..."

Taken together McCann's, Lowe's, and Clingenpeel's comments clearly describe the point at which we find ourselves in Virginia Baptist life. Consider:

McCann: ... we are in the midst of a denominational upheaval. ... Virginia Baptists and the Southern Baptist Convention are on divergent paths. ... While we used to walk side by side, it is clear that the distance between us is growing. Relationships are not the same today as they were yesterday, and they will not be the same tomorrow. ... It is time to create something new. ..."

Lowe: There are fundamental differences about faith, about what Christianity really is ... The only question now would appear to be just how long it will take the rest of the Baptist General Association of Virginia to decide when to file for divorce."

Clingenpeel: "Moderate Baptists clearly control the BGAV's elected leadership. They will set the tone and direction of Virginia Baptists' future relationship with national ministry partners such as the SBC, CBF, Alliance of Baptists and the Baptist World alliance. ... WM1 churches give 30 percent of the BGAV's total receipts. Tough anti-SBC rhetoric ... could force WM1 churches to seek a state connection that is friendlier to their commitments."

There you have it, Virginia Baptists. Not from a conservative, but from the immediate past president of the BGAV, from an outside observer, and from the RH editor. The BGAV is moving progressively further and further from the SBC. The widening breach is caused by fundamental differences about what Christianity really is. Complete separation is inevitable and timing only a tactic. Pressure to change alignment is felt especially by those churches most committed to the SBC.

In fact, that pressure goes beyond just the WM1 churches noted by Editor Clingenpeel. The last figures I saw showed 280 churches in WM1 and 134 more with individually designed plans. Every church with an individual plan gave a higher percentage to the SBC than even those in WM1. And taken together, the WM1 and individual design plan churches gave 47.53% of the BGAV budget!

Every Baptist General Association of Virginia church MUST decide, CANNOT AVOID deciding, whether to remain affiliated with the BGAV or to realign with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia. No outsider can or should tell your church what to do. It is strictly up to each congregation. But remember, you CANNOT avoid deciding, for inaction IS a decision to stay where you are.

Let me suggest the following for your consideration. The biblical issues are by far the most important. If your church folks believe in six day creation, that there was no death before Adam and Eve sinned, in a worldwide flood, in the virgin birth, in the bodily resurrection, in salvation through Christ alone ... then you should seriously and systematically consider joining the SBCV. If you are still undecided, compare and contrast; attend some SBCV meetings and some BGAV meetings. Where do you sense the Spirit speaking? If at the BGAV gatherings, that's probably where you belong. If at the SBCV meetings, why not join the SBCV, the only Virginia state convention that is in strong agreement with the Southern Baptist Convention? Surely there now can be no doubt as to the direction and loyalties of the BGAV or as to the direction and loyalties of the SBCV.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." And Amos 3:3 reads, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" This is the time to make a definite decision and get it over with. If you and your church agree with the SBCV that God's Word is completely authoritative in every area on which it speaks, if you are thrilled by the return to biblical loyalty in the SBC over the last twenty years, if you understand that every member of every other religion is lost and bound for hell and you have a burden for those poor lost souls, and if you rejoice in the record numbers of new church starts and souls saved, come join the SBCV and help us reach Virginia, North America, and the world for Jesus.