OXFORDSHIRE, England — David Coffey, general secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB) and a vice president of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), describes as “distressing” the report of the Southern Baptist Study Committee which recommends the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) withdraw both its financial support and membership from the BWA, October 2004.
In a letter to BUGB churches, many of whom have links with the International Mission Board (IMB), Coffey says the action recommended by the committee, “threatens to split the Baptist family.”
Coffey pointed to the theological concerns the report states as the principal reason for the decision as well as questions about some of the funding decisions made by Baptist World Aid.
Coffey emphasized “it is too early to say if this problem will lead to an end of the partnership between the BUGB and the IMB.”
“I simply don’t know how this is going to affect their personnel within the UK,” he said even as he praised the work they had done together.
“A number of our churches can speak of all that has been achieved through working together, and I would want to honor the work of SBC missionaries over the past 10 years,” he said. “They’ve been marvelous partners and this is what makes the current conflict so sad.”
Coffey expressed the hope that reconciliation would take place between the BWA and SBC. “I hope that both sides might still find a way of reconciling their differences,” he said. “The gospel demands that all of us strive for a spirit of unity in the bonds of peace in order to bring healing to a broken world.”
Coffey urged the churches to pray for BWA and especially for General Secretary Denton Lotz.
“Pray for the united witness of our Baptist family around the world,” he wrote, “and pray for reconciliation for the sake of the gospel we all seek to proclaim.”
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