Creedal Convention

If the quote in the June 8 edition of The Birmingham News is correct, then Jack Graham, the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention, has just defined the convention as a creedal organization.

The quote says, “[The missionaries] have every right not to sign [the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message (BFM)]. But Southern Baptists also have the right…not to include them in the task force of world missions. I mean, not everybody’s a Southern Baptist; we understand that.” What he is saying is that the 2000 BFM defines who is a Southern Baptist. And refusal to sign that document defines the person who refuses as not Southern Baptist. The 2000 Baptist Faith and Message has become the creed of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The missionaries who have refused to sign are not unknown quantities. They have given a written statement of their beliefs to a committee of the trustees of the International Mission Board.

That committee had opportunity to question them individually about their beliefs. All were approved ad have served the Lord ad the denomination faithfully. Now, we are to understand by Graham’s statement they will be dismissed, not because they have changed, but because the Convention has changed.

It is a sad day for the people of the Southern Baptist churches who love missions and missionaries and who, if they knew the missionaries personally, would not find fault with those who have refused to sign.

Ben E. Hope
Southside, Ala.