NAMB divorce policy to include chaplains

Trustees of the North American Mission Board (NAMB) have broadened the agency’s divorce policy to include chaplains applying for endorsement by the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Chaplains Commission. The change was approved May 3 in Fort Worth, Texas.

NAMB’s policy on divorce previously applied to those persons appointed and approved as missionaries. The policy now applies to chaplains seeking SBC endorsement after May 3.

The policy states “divorced people will rarely, and only under unusual circumstances, be appointed, approved or endorsed for mission service.” Sexual unfaithfulness and desertion are cited in the policy as biblical rationale for possible divorce exceptions.

Kelley Burris, NAMB trustee from Virginia Beach, Va., and chairman of the task force that studied and brought the recommendation to the full board, acknowledged the policy was a sensitive issue. But, he said, the action was necessary in order to “apply biblical principles consistently to missionaries and chaplains alike.”

‘Greater good’

“We all have our own opinions,” Burris said, “but putting mission personnel and chaplains under the same guidelines would be for the greater good, representing [NAMB] and the [SBC].”

Robert E. Reccord, NAMB president, said, “The key goals here were to make sure what we do is biblical, and that we’re consistent. Although our society has abandoned biblical standards, we are committed to holding to those standards.”

Another new provision of the policy is that it extends the remarriage restriction to the wife of a future candidate seeking appointment, approval or endorsement to a pastoral role. Men who have experienced a biblical divorce will only be considered for a pastoral role if they have not remarried. The policy allows for divorced persons to serve in a myriad of non-pastoral roles “if the divorce is determined to be biblically based.”

Burris also said the guidelines apply to Mission Service Corps (MSC) volunteers serving in a pastoral role, but not to those in other ministry positions. MSC is for adult volunteers who commit to serve at least 20 hours per week and at least four months.

(BP)