CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Moderate-conservative Baptists in North Carolina are talking seriously about “realignment,” a move that could divert millions in contributions from the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, which is controlled by fundamental-conservatives.
Executives of virtually all of the convention’s institutions met privately Dec. 1 to discuss alternatives for the future, now that conservatives have solidified control of the convention and indicated they will install sympathetic trustees and leaders for the institutions.
Participants agreed to form a committee to explore options, but no one was ready to predict the outcome.
North Carolina Baptists support five colleges, as well as a newspaper, children’s home ministry, retirement center and foundation. The colleges receive $6.1 million from the convention. But lumped with funds for the other agencies — as well as missions offerings and other sources — the state convention controls about $16 million that benefits institutions and other missions causes in the state, the leaders were told Dec. 1.
The meeting’s objective, participants said, was to make sure moderate and progressive Baptists have a way to support the institutions they like — particularly colleges — without funding the state convention, which, they say, has excluded them and their views.
The key to the new resolve, other participants said, is getting the colleges to act in unison. The five colleges still related to the North Carolina convention — Campbell University, Buies Creek; Chowan College, Murfreesboro; Gardner-Webb University, Boiling Springs; Mars Hill College, Mars Hill; and Wingate University, Wingate — recently asked for a formal study of their relationships with the convention. Meredith College in Raleigh already has broken away. The study by the council on Christian higher education is expected by August.
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