Background Book on Two Virginia Conventions

by T. C. Pinckney                                                                                                 Vol. X, No. 5, May 1997

Every Virginia church must decide whether to join the new, conservative state convention, The Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia, or remain affiliated with the Baptist General Association of Virginia. Even taking no conscious decision is a decision to stay with the BGAV. Yet many, perhaps most, pastors and congregations may be uncertain about the reasons the new convention was formed.

To help answer your questions, a new book has just become available from the printer. The Banner Files is a compilation of items published in The Baptist Banner newsletter between 1988 and October 1996. It is arranged in eight sections:

Heritage: A collection of statements validating biblical inerrancy by outstanding orthodox Christians, mostly Southern Baptists, but including a few selections by such men as Martin Luther and Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Antiheritage: The other side of the ledger. Statements mostly by SBC liberals demonstrating their views that the Bible contains errors. This section could have been titled “Out of Their Own Mouths.”

BGAV: Actions and Policies: Reports of the actions and inactions by the 1992, ‘93, ‘94, & ‘95 BGAV conventions plus five other articles demonstrating similar problems.

Anti-SBC Organizations: Fifteen brief articles providing insights into the policies and actions of liberal Baptist organizations. Most deal with the “Cooperative Baptist Fellowship”, the largest and most influential of those groups.

Perspectives on the Sacred Struggle: Helpful articles from both conservative and liberal sources which support the conservative view of the spiritual battle for the soul of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Issues: Many charges have been raised about the real nature of the SBC turmoil. This section examines ten of the more usual ones and concludes with the excellent texts of “The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy” and “The Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics.”

Why Separate State Conventions: As the book continues to move from the general to the particular, this section presents eight articles by seven Virginia conservative authors giving their views as to why a new state convention is necessary.

A New Thing: The Banner Files was composed in October-November 1996 when the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia had just declared itself to be a state convention. Consequently, the ten articles in this chapter are preliminary views of the SBCV. Nevertheless, they provide an informative early look at our new convention and its stance on vital issues. The last article reprints the substantive resolutions passed at the September 1996 founding meeting. Read this section and you will have a good feel for the SBCV’s direction.

This new version of The Banner Files is a paperback book of some 130 pages. Readers are free, even encouraged, to copy any parts of it they wish. You may obtain a copy by making your check for $9.00 payable to “SBCV” and mailing it to: SBCV, P.O. Box 62000, Virginia Beach, VA 23466.