MACON, Ga. — In the first major event since the Georgia Baptist Convention (GBC) unilaterally voted to break a 173-year-old relationship with its flagship university, Mercer University officials welcomed more than 150 church leaders to the Macon, Ga., campus Jan. 19–20 to explore ways to sustain and enhance the school’s Baptist identity.
“We reaffirm that Mercer is a Baptist university,” said Mercer President Kirby Godsey. “That reality, of course, can never be changed by a state convention.”
Godsey, who will retire in June after 27 years as Mercer’s president, said the university faces the dual challenges of evaluating “how the Baptist identity informs the Mercer experience” and how to “sustain relationships with Baptist people.”
Godsey said Mercer is exploring ways to move ahead as a Baptist university free of formal ties with the GBC. “Our challenge is that we can’t ultimately live out our Baptist identity in isolation,” Godsey said. “How do we join hands with Baptist people?”
Mercer is appealing to churches for financial support to replace GBC funding for Baptist student scholarships. Godsey said the convention provides $3.5 million of the $11.5 million in aid to Baptist students, who make up more than half of the student population.
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