NEWS STORY: Baptist Moderates Gain in North Carolina

c. 2000 Religion News Service WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. _ North Carolina Baptists rejected a resolution to reaffirm the state convention’s ties with the Southern Baptist Convention and instead voted to emphasize its autonomy at its annual meeting Tuesday (Nov. 14). The amended resolution appeared to signal that moderate voices are gaining some momentum at a time […]

c. 2000 Religion News Service

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. _ North Carolina Baptists rejected a resolution to reaffirm the state convention’s ties with the Southern Baptist Convention and instead voted to emphasize its autonomy at its annual meeting Tuesday (Nov. 14).

The amended resolution appeared to signal that moderate voices are gaining some momentum at a time when the conservative resurgence within the national body has been all but overwhelming. It also signaled that North Carolina moderates are emboldened by the recent decision by the Texas state convention to cut $5 million in funding to Southern Baptist Convention seminaries and institutions over disagreements in theology.


The vote on the resolution was largely a formality since the constitution of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina speaks of a cooperating relationship with the SBC. It also says the convention functions autonomously.

The real effect of the resolution is to insure that the convention will continue to allow its 3,700 affiliated churches the option of contributing money to the Southern Baptist Convention, its rival, the more moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, or both. The state convention has four different giving plans and moderates would like to keep it that way.

“The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina is not a franchise nor a subsidiary of the Southern Baptist Convention,” said the Rev. Paul Pridgen, the pastor of Edenton Baptist Church in Edenton, N.C., who proposed the amended resolution. “We as North Carolina Baptists are an autonomous body. We voluntarily choose to cooperate with the Southern Baptist Convention or with other Christian bodies.”

For the past 20 years, the Southern Baptist Convention has taken increasingly conservative stands that many middle-of-the-road Baptists feel have gone too far. Recent revisions to the Baptist statement of faith alienated many, especially its ban on women pastors and call on wives to submit to their husbands.

In North Carolina, conservatives have voiced objections to a minority of churches that remain affiliated with the state convention while contributing no money to the Southern Baptist Convention.

“When so many denominations are falling apart at the core, it’s important we tell the Southern Baptist Convention, we’re with you,” said Ben Cole, a messenger from Wake Crossroads Baptist Church in Raleigh.

One year after the failure of a shared-leadership proposal among moderates and conservatives, this year’s convention showed little evidence the two groups will work together. There was, however, one exception.


Both conservatives and moderates united in backing the re-election of a president they both regard as a conciliator. He is the Rev. Mike Cummings of Pembroke, a Lumbee Indian, and a conservative. The state convention includes some 1.2 million Baptists.

The Rev. Buddy Corbin, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Asheville, was elected first vice president, and the Rev. Larry Harper, pastor of Forest Hills Baptist Church in Raleigh, was elected second vice president. Both are considered moderates.

With the formation of a new moderate group, known as Mainstream Baptists, it is likely that next year’s slate of candidates will once again be fought out along party lines, with each faction submitting its own slate.

On Monday, moderates formally convened the Mainstream Baptist group at a standing-room-only meeting that was part church service, part rally. The guest speaker was David Currie, the coordinator of Texas Baptists Committed.

The convention rejected another resolution that would have cut the state convention’s fraternal relationship with Wake Forest University. Over the past two years, many traditional Baptists have reacted angrily to the university’s decision to allow the sale of alcohol on campus, and, most recently, to allow a same-sex union in its chapel.

The convention initially recommended that the convention change its relationship with the university from “fraternal” to “historic.” But the Rev. Ray Davis of Winston Salem urged the convention to go one step further and cut ties altogether, including the $28,000 the convention gives annually to the university in scholarships for Baptist students.


“It troubles me deeply whenever I see my money go to support things that are unbiblical, un-Christian and un-Baptist,” said Davis. “I hate sin and I will oppose it whenever it pops its head.”

But since the university is listed in the convention’s constitution, cutting ties with Wake Forest required a two-thirds majority vote, as do all constitutional changes. The vote got only 60 percent and the resolution failed.

DEA END SHIMRON

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