Baptists consider rules change

RAYTOWN, Mo. -- Baptist churches in Missouri that support any national church coalition other than the Southern Baptist Convention or any state group besides the Missouri Baptist Convention would be ousted from the state convention under rules being considered this week.

Discussion of a proposal banning affiliation with rivals to the Southern Baptist Convention dominated discussion at the Missouri Baptist Convention's annual meeting on Wednesday.

Membership or financial support of groups such as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Baptist General Convention of Missouri -- both founded in response to the growing conservatism of the Southern Baptist Convention -- would be grounds for dismissal from the Missouri Baptist Convention under the recommended changes to the organization's constitution and bylaws.

A spokesman for the Missouri Baptist Convention said the "single alignment" proposal will go to a vote at next year's annual meeting.

The plan did not have unanimous backing Wednesday at the final business session of the three-day annual meeting. Some who opposed the proposal called it divisive, while others said efforts to adopt the changes were "anti-Christian."

Among the conservative positions held by the Southern Baptist Convention are a ban on the ordination of women and an increasingly hardline stance on homosexuality.

"We're supposed to have our freedom to give money to whoever we choose," said Jim Henson, a voting representative from First Baptist of Grain Valley. "They're starting to tell us what we can do."

Henson said he was not opposed to the convention's conservative views, but didn't believe it should have the authority to oust churches that support other groups.

Nearly 2,000 churches belong to the Missouri Baptist Convention. With over 16 million members, the Southern Baptist Convention is America's largest Protestant denomination.