Southern Baptists Vote to Sever Ties
with Baptist World Alliance

	Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting voted today to sever their longstanding ties with the Baptist World Alliance, the global organization of Baptists they helped start in 1905 in London, England. The recommendation passed overwhelmingly with only one person having the opportunity to respond.
Denton Lotz, BWA General Secretary

“My church prayed for 100 days following the March BWA Executive Committee meeting in Washington,” said BWA President Billy Kim. “Our prayer focused on the Southern Baptist Convention proposal to leave the BWA. We love all of the Baptists around the world and will pray for the leadership and members of SBC. We are asking God to perform a miracle. I still have high hopes that an agreement can be reached so that the SBC will continue as an active member of the BWA.”

"The decision of the SBC to withdraw is indeed a sad day in the history of our organization," said Denton Lotz, General Secretary. ... more

Statement from American Baptist Churches, USA
When Paige Patterson, President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a member of the Southern Baptist Convention/Baptist World Alliance Study Committee spoke to the messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention Annual meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, he gave several reasons for the SBC to withdraw from the Baptist World Alliance, one of which was the charge that the American Baptist Churches USA supported gay marriage and a homosexual agenda. Here is the reply from Roy Medley, general secretary of the ABC and Rich Schramm, associate general secretary for Communications.
Wendy Ryan, Director Communications, Phone 703 790 8980 ext 134. Read the Baptist World, check the BWA website

"Dr. Patterson's statement is completely outrageous. Nowhere, in any of the conversations with the BWA, has such an excuse ever been given. Their action to pull out was clearly and solely a response to the BWA's vote to welcome the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship into the Baptist World Alliance. That is when the issue arose, and is the substance of their action though they have consistently sought to cover it with patently untrue excuses, such as that the BWA is anti-American. And now to characterize American Baptist Churches USA as being in favor of gay marriage goes beyond the pale! Our Policy Statement on Family Life, adopted in 1984, maintains, 'We affirm that God intends marriage to be a monogamous, life-long, one flesh union of a woman and a man.... We affirm God's blessing and active presence in marriage relationships...'" -- The Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley General Secretary, American Baptist Churches USA ... more