The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship had adopted as stance against homosexuality described by leaders as “welcoming but not affirming” of gays.
The Atlanta-based Fellowship’s governing board, the Coordinating Council, voted Oct. 13 to adopt a “statement of organizational value” about groups or causes it will fund.
The statement, which came to the full council as a recommendation of a smaller advisory council, describes faithfulness in marriage and celibacy by singles as “the foundation of a Christian sexual ethic.”
“Because of this organizational value, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship does not allow for the expenditure of funds for organizations that condone, advocate or affirm homosexual practice,” it says.
The statement further prohibits the “purposeful” hiring of gays as CBF staff or missionaries.
Mart Gray, coordinator for Alabama CBF and member of First Baptist, Elba, is pleased with the statement. “I feel very good about it for two reasons: 1. We have shown our willingness to deal with a difficult issue, … and 2. The whole process of how this came about gives definition to how CBF can continue to define itself,” he said.
Often targeted
The Fellowship, a group spun off from a long controversy within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), is often targeted by SBC critics for associating with individuals and groups on record as affirming gays. While CBF leaders have said publicly they believe homosexuality is immoral, the organization itself had never before made a statement on the issue.
It did, however, once before cut off program support for a partner organization, the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, for condoning homosexuality. The Fellowship continues to cooperate with the Peace Fellowship, however, on projects of mutual benefit.
While the Fellowship has purposely avoided taking positions on controversial issues through a policy of not allowing resolutions at the General Assembly, CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal and other leaders said the organization can no longer dodge a controversy that is dividing many denominations.
“It (is) time for CBF to address this issue as an organization,” Vestal said. “We are being defined by our enemies on the right and our friends on the left. I feel it is time for our organization to do some self-definition and not depend on others to define us.”
Gray agreed. “We needed to make some kind of organizational stand on this issue, certainly as it relates to funding issues.”
While rejecting homosexual practice, the new CBF statement acknowledges “The love and grace of God for all people, both those who live by this understanding of the biblical standard and those who do not.”
“We treasure the freedom of individual conscience and the autonomy of the local church,” the statement says, “and we also believe that congregational leaders should be persons of moral integrity whose lives exemplify the highest standards of Christian conduct and character.”
Vestal said the statement would not be used to tell any church, individual or other organization what to believe. “I have no interest whatever in excluding or demeaning or minimizing any in this Fellowship who share a different perspective than this document,” he said. (ABP)
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