{"id":1506,"date":"2011-01-20T05:00:35","date_gmt":"2011-01-20T12:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=1506"},"modified":"2011-01-20T05:00:35","modified_gmt":"2011-01-20T12:00:35","slug":"southwestern-seminarys-assault-on-autonomy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=1506","title":{"rendered":"Southwestern Seminary’s Assault on Autonomy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article IV. Authority:<\/strong> While independent and sovereign in its own sphere, the Convention does not claim and will never attempt to exercise any authority over any other Baptist body, whether church, auxiliary organizations, associations, or convention. (Constitution of the Southern Baptist Convention)<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I suppose it depends on what your definitions of “never,” “attempt,” “exercise,” and “authority” are.\u00a0 It seems the latest assault on local autonomy comes courtesy of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary,\u00a0a wholly owned entity of the Southern Baptist Convention.<\/p>\n

According to published reports in Associated Baptist Press <\/em>(here<\/a> and here<\/a> — you will look in vain to find “reporting” on this issue from Baptist Press<\/em>), the Tarrant Baptist Association received a letter from\u00a0Southwestern Seminary informing the Association (the association in SWBTS’s backyard)\u00a0that it<\/p>\n

was in violation of its 1997 affiliation agreement, and it directed the association to vacate its property on James Avenue within six months. It also stated title on the property should revert back to the seminary.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Apparently, the original 99-year lease agreement was renegotiated in 1997 and ownership of the property in question was deeded to the Tarrant Baptist Association.\u00a0 As is common with\u00a0gifts of property to be used for religious purposes, a reversionary clause was inserted\u00a0into the deed.\u00a0 These clauses stipulate the circumstances whereby the property would “revert” (i.e.,\u00a0be given back) to the original owner (in this case, Southwestern).<\/p>\n

A typical circumstance triggering a reversionary\u00a0clause might be when\u00a0property donated for use as a church ceases to be used\u00a0as such.\u00a0 For example, if Church A\u00a0decided to disband and\u00a0wanted to sell the\u00a0property for use as a nightclub, then a reversionary clause would kick in.<\/p>\n

In the case of Tarrant Association’s\u00a0ownership and use of the property in question, it appears (I do not have access to the original letter sent by Southwestern to the Association) that the\u00a0seminary is\u00a0invoking the reversionary clause and demanding that\u00a0TBA vacate the premises within six months.<\/p>\n

According to a letter sent by Tarrant’s Moderator-elect Al Meredith\u00a0to\u00a0pastors of churches in the Association, the seminary (who exactly?\u00a0 Paige Patterson, attorneys for the seminary or someone\u00a0else)\u00a0indicated three areas of concern regarding the TBA’s non-compliance with an “affiliation agreement”\u00a0that the association has with SWBTS:<\/p>\n

1. The Baptist Faith and Message of 2000 has taken a clear stand against homosexual sin. They contend that Tarrant Baptist Association has member church(s) who don’t stand in compliance with this statement. They feel this places them in a contradictory situation.
\n2. They contend that in past years they have asked for and not received any assistance from the TBA office in helping their professors and students gain access to empty pulpits in the Association.
\n3. They need the additional space for offices and\/or a Welcome Center.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Prior to the December 12, 2010 letter, were these concerns ever expressed to the leadership within the TBA?\u00a0 If not, why not?\u00a0 Did Southwestern give Tarrant the opportunity to rectify these concerns before threatening to invoke the reversionary clause?\u00a0 If not, why not?\u00a0 There are multiple legal issues involved in this case.\u00a0 As I\u00a0have neither read the\u00a0deeds of conveyance\u00a0and other pertinent legal documents nor have I read any of the letters that were sent by the seminary to the Tarrant Baptist\u00a0Association, I will reserve comment on the legal aspects of this case.<\/p>\n

However, let me offer an opinion as to another issue which is at play, one that is not really about law, but about ecclesiology.\u00a0 What has been couched in legal terms appears to be nothing more than an attempt to exercise raw control and authority over an autonomous association of Baptist churches.\u00a0 And this, in direct violation of the\u00a0Constitution of the Southern Baptist Convention.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How else to explain the use of the “nuclear option” of reversion?\u00a0 Were there\u00a0no other\u00a0alternatives but to invoke the reversionary clause?\u00a0 The reasons given for reversion, particularly 2 and 3 above, are simply ludicrous.\u00a0 For one of our Southern Baptist seminaries to demand\u00a0that a local association of Baptist churches — many of whom are cooperating Southern Baptist churches —\u00a0to give back property to the seminary based on the seminary’s\u00a0“need for additional space” or the supposed lack of assistance in placement are laughable.<\/p>\n

Reason #1 — the issue of homosexuality — is a red herring.\u00a0 Southern Baptists who believe in autonomy — the local church, the local association, and the state convention — should not be fooled.\u00a0 Cooperating Southern Baptists, who still believe in autonomy, must not allow any Southern Baptist entity to use any\u00a0issue to “exercise control over any other Baptist body,” in violation of the SBC’s Constitution.<\/p>\n

Before proceeding, let me say that I believe that the SBC has every right to disfellowship\u00a0churches who endorse or support homosexuality.\u00a0 I have voted in convention meetings to affirm recommendations that churches be barred from seating messengers.\u00a0 I believe that\u00a0state conventions and local associations likewise have every right to disfellowship\u00a0churches who endorse or support homosexuality.\u00a0 If\u00a0that were an issue in my local association or state convention, I\u00a0would likely\u00a0vote to disfellowship such churches.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 However, I do not believe that Tarrant Baptist Association’s inclusion of member churches that endorse or support homosexuality (i.e., Broadway Baptist Church in Ft. Worth)\u00a0is what is truly driving this issue,\u00a0despite what has been proffered by the seminary as one of the reasons for reversion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I believe that homosexuality, in this case, is being used as the pretext for exerting control over the Tarrant Baptist Association <\/a>(400 Baptist\/Southern Baptist churches in the Ft. Worth area.\u00a0 The TBA is larger than the entire Baptist Convention of New Mexico).\u00a0 Here’s how.\u00a0 If Tarrant does not disfellowship churches (at this point, apparently only Broadway, which equals .25% of the churches in the Association)\u00a0who support homosexuality, then Tarrant is in danger of losing property that had previously\u00a0been given to the Association.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Understand the ramifications of this.\u00a0 The SBC has already disfellowshipped\u00a0Broadway Baptist Church over the issue of homosexuality (I voted in favor of the motion to disfellowship).\u00a0 Now, an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention does not like the fact that an autonomous association has dared to allow Broadway to remain as a member in good standing.<\/p>\n

Because of one church’s actions — out of 400 — the entire Tarrant Baptist Association is now somehow suspect and no longer in “theological harmony” with Southwestern Seminary.\u00a0 That does not make any sense.\u00a0 This is not about\u00a0“theological harmony.”\u00a0 This is not even about homosexuality.\u00a0 This is about power, control, authority, and an assault on autonomy.<\/p>\n

Remember, the slippery slope always starts somewhere.<\/a>\u00a0 What issue will be next?\u00a0 Will it be churches\u00a0who have women pastors?\u00a0 Been there, done that.\u00a0 What about divorced deacons?\u00a0 How about views on the\u00a0end times?\u00a0 What about associations\u00a0who have member churches who are members of organizations that the SBC does not like?\u00a0 If those\u00a0churches do not stop their suspect\u00a0affiliations and if the local association (or state conventions –think BGAV\u00a0and BGCT)\u00a0allow them to remain as a member in good standing, will the\u00a0SBC move to disfellowship\u00a0entire associations or state conventions?<\/p>\n

These are all relevant and timely questions.\u00a0 As it is,\u00a0many of the elites running the SBC\u00a0and her entities have little or no regard (much less understanding) for local associations or state conventions.\u00a0 These “leaders” see the SBC as a\u00a0“top-down” denomination instead of a\u00a0grassroots convention of autonomous, cooperating\u00a0churches.<\/p>\n

If this power grab is allowed to stand, then we will have moved one step closer to the end of autonomy as we know it.\u00a0 And, the beginning of the end of the\u00a0SBC as we know it.\u00a0 You might not think\u00a0that the property rights of the Tarrant Baptist Association are worth defending.\u00a0 But, just\u00a0remember.\u00a0 It\u00a0could be your local association tomorrow!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article IV. Authority: While independent and sovereign in its own sphere, the Convention does not claim and will never attempt to exercise any authority over any other Baptist body, whether church, auxiliary organizations, associations, or convention. (Constitution of the Southern Baptist Convention) I suppose it depends on what your definitions of “never,” “attempt,” “exercise,” and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,30,35,37],"tags":[73,3396,117,118,142,143,230,418,495,3389,616,755,809,3392,834,835,3393,923,950,955],"class_list":["post-1506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-law","category-religion","category-southern-baptist-convention","tag-al-meredith","tag-autonomy","tag-baptist-general-association-of-virginia","tag-baptist-general-convention-of-texas","tag-bgav","tag-bgct","tag-church","tag-ft-worth","tag-homosexuality","tag-law","tag-local-associations","tag-paige-patterson","tag-property-rights","tag-religion","tag-reversionary-clause","tag-revert","tag-southern-baptist-convention","tag-southwestern-baptist-theological-seminary","tag-swbts","tag-tarrant-baptist-association"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LP7G-oi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1506\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}