Moderate So. Baptists to Steer Funds to Like-Minded Agencies

ATLANTA —  Moderate Southern Baptists, feeling shut out of their own denomination, decided Friday to steer their money to agencies they support and away from those they see as aligned with fundamentalists.

The 2,700-member group, Baptists Committed to the Southern Baptist Convention, voted to adopt an alternative funding plan that some observers said could be the first step toward forming a new denomination. The plan would bypass the 14.9-million-member denomination’s unified budget by allowing donors to target specific church activities for funding.

While affirming the new arrangement, leaders of the loosely organized moderate movement said they have no present plans for a new denomination. “We’re here to help, not hurt; to heal, not wound; to unify, not divide; to focus on the future, not the past,” said the Rev. Daniel Vestal, pastor of a suburban Atlanta church, during a keynote address on Thursday.

The moderates have suffered 12 years of defeat in political infighting with the Southern Baptist’s fundamentalist wing. The latest defeat came in June when Vestal was defeated by fundamentalist Morris Chapman of Ft. Worth for the convention presidency.

The meeting’s sponsors oppose the direction the denomination has taken under conservative-dominated trustee boards. Conservative Southern Baptist leaders, meanwhile, have expressed concern that designated giving might weaken the official giving program.

Chapman has joined top agency executives in defending the unified budget system and opposing “any deviation from this proven practice.”