American Baptist group splits from parent denomination

The board of directors of the American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest region voted May 11 to formally sever all ties with its parent denomination. The group will withdraw from the American Baptist Churches (USA) (ABCUSA) effective Nov. 1.

The vote by the board was unanimous and follows an April 29 vote  by delegates for the withdrawal. Delegates from the region’s 300 churches gathered in seven locations throughout California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii to cast votes and approved the move by a vote of 1,125 to 209. The region had already ceased sending funds to the 1.5 million-member ABCUSA at the close of 2005.

At issue is the failure of the General Board of the ABCUSA to enforce its policy on homosexuality. While the denomination adopted statements on the incompatibility of Christianity and the homosexual lifestyle in 1984 and 1992, the General Board in 1993 adopted a resolution that called for “continuing dialogue on human sexuality.” The statement seemed to many conservative American Baptists to open the door to homosexuality-friendly churches and associations.

The board of the Pacific Southwest region recommended full withdrawal from its covenant relationship with the denomination because “deep differences of theological convictions and values between the American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest (ABCPSW) and the American Baptist Churches in the USA (ABCUSA) are understood by the Board of Directors of the ABCPSW as irreconcilable,” the region’s leadership said in a statement issued after the April 29 vote. (BP)