The Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) took five of its agencies to court Aug. 13, filing a 51-page petition for declaratory judgment in Cole County Circuit Court.
The petition asks the court to review corporate charters of the agencies and determine if trustees acted within their legal rights when they voted to remove themselves from convention control.
The petition names as defendants the Baptist Home in Ironton, Missouri Baptist College in St. Louis, Windermere Baptist Conference Center in Camden County, and Missouri Baptist Foundation and Word and Way in Jefferson City.
The petition also claims all five entities “broke trust with Missouri Baptists” by filing amended charters and declaring themselves autonomous, self-electing boards without approval of the convention or its executive board.
The petition also names Secretary of State Matt Blunt, who turned down a request by MBC officials to strike down the amended charters.
Joining the Missouri Baptist executive board in the petition are the MBC, which is unincorporated, and five representative Missouri churches.
The petition says the agencies, with assets totaling $200 million, “amended their charters in order to steal themselves away from convention governance.” It cites the MBC constitution, which says that all charter changes fro convention agencies must be approved by the convention upon recommendation by the executive board and that the convention shall elect all agency trustees.
“This is not a lawsuit seeking money for personal injury or personal wrongdoing.” MBC president Bob Curtis wrote in a letter announcing the court action. “We are asking a judge to read the corporate documents and to declare what the law is: were the amendments lawful or unlawful?”
Representatives of the five agencies have defended their actions, saying they were taken in part to shield the respective organizations, but mainly for fiduciary and liability concerns.
The MBC voted last fall to hold about $1.2 million in convention funding earmarked for the five agencies in escrow, pending settlement of the leadership dispute.
(ABP)
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