A Texas Baptist study committee has unanimously approved a recommendation that will reduce the amount of money the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) sends to Southern Baptist seminaries from $5.3 million to a maximum of $1 million next year.
The BGCT administrative committee, completing its proposed budget changes for calendar year 2001 on Sept. 13 also recommended no money for the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Ethics and Religious liberty Commission and only token funding for SBC Executive Committee.
To become effective, the budget proposal must be ratified by the convention’s executive board Sept. 26 and then by the full convention Oct. 30-31.
Charles Wade, executive director of the largest state convention within the denomination, said if the proposal is accepted, it would be “the most dramatic thing undertaken by any state Baptist convention.”
Committee Chairman Bob Campbell presented a preliminary report regarding the recommendations at a Sept.8 administrative committee meeting.
The proposed changes come at a time when some Texas moderates have urged the state convention to stop sending undesignated donations to the SBC each year. The moderates have political and theological differences with conservative leaders who have gained control of the denomination since a resurgence began in 1979.
The committee recommends the $4.3 million cut from SBC seminaries be redistributed in special project funds and student grants to theological schools affiliated with the state convention.
Among the issues addressed by the theological-educational committee is the requirement of the six seminaries for faculty member s to sign the Baptist Faith and Message statement that was revised in June, provoking controversy.
Texas Baptist leaders particularly objected to the removal of one reference to Jesus Christ as the standard by which Scripture should be interpreted and the addition of another declaring the document an instrument of doctrinal accountability that denominational employees cannot question.
In response, Kenneth S. Hemphill, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, said, “We always have and always will expect our faculty to voluntarily and joyfully teach in accordance with and not contrary to the Baptist Faith and Message.
Hemphill and other Baptist officials, including the heads of the SBC’s Council of Seminary Presidents and Executive Committee, have publicly opposed the proposal.
“The disadvantage of the proposed funding plan is that it does not give Texas Baptist churches the privilege of investing in students from around the world,” Hemphill said.
“Its underlying motive is hostility, and its effect is directed at thousands of faithful young ministers of the gospel studying at our seminaries,” said Williams Crews, president of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, Calif., and council chairman.
SBC Executive Committee President Morris Chapman encouraged Texas Southern Baptists to attend the Oct. 30-31 meeting of the state convention.
“If you go this year, I hope and pray you will see how important it is to go every year and protect your cherished beliefs and strong relationship with the Southern Baptist Convention,” he said.
Hemphill said, “We must remember that the money we receive from Texas does not belong to the Baptist General Convention of Texas, nor does it belong to the Southern Baptist Convention.”
“It belongs to Texas Baptist churches and is to be used as they want it used,” he said. “Our security never has been and will never be in the hands of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Our security is in the hand of God, and we are confident He will provide what is necessary for our seminary’s future through the means He chooses to use.”
Under the proposed plan Southwestern would get the largest share of the $1 million pool allocated for SBC seminaries because it currently enrolls about 1,400 of the estimated 1,600 Texas students attending SBC seminaries.
Even so, Southwestern’s funding could be reduced from $1.5 million to an estimated $875,000 in 2001.
Texas churches still would be able to designate funds through the BGCT to all SBC causes, including the seminaries, should they desire. However, designated funding from Texas churches to the seminaries would be counted toward the cap of $1 million given to the SBC schools collectively.
The budget proposal does not alter distribution to the SBC’s International Mission Board, which stand to continue to receive about $12 million and $5.6 million respectively from the BGCT next year.
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