Defections to Baptist Fellowship Predicted
The coordinator of the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has predicted that changes in the Southern Baptist Convention’s statement of faith will prompt as many as 5,000 churches to leave the denomination and join the fellowship.
“I am convinced there are thousands of Baptists that believe in our core values and share our vision and want to become part of CBF,” said Dan Vestal, coordinator of the fellowship, at its General Assembly in Orlando. “They would find CBF and CBF networks a denomination-like home in a post-denominational world.”
Vestal said changes made in June by delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention in its “Baptist Faith and Message” contrast with the stands of the fellowship.
For example, new revisions in the statement say the Bible teaches that only men should be pastors. Vestal said it is possible to interpret the Bible that way, but “that’s not the only way to interpret Scripture.”
Vestal also commented on the removal of the phrase from the faith statement that names Christ as the criterion for interpreting the Bible.
“We love and cherish the Bible as Holy Scripture,” he said, “but we do not place Scripture over Jesus.”
About 1,800 churches are affiliated with the fellowship, which was formed in 1991 when moderates found they no longer controlled the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention.
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