In another thread, I brought up the SBC "Conservative Resurgence". Our detractors, of course, call it the "Fundamentalist Takeover".
It is, to my knowledge, the only large denomination that has ever "drifted left", then came back to conservative roots.
It began in the late 70's / early 80's with a systematic election of conservatives to SBC boards and committees, as well as the presidency. The aim was to take the SBC from a liberal trajectory to a clear declaration of inerrancy.
I remember well the liberals pitching fits and yelling about those "Fun-DAMN-mentalists".
I, of course, was one of the conservatives pushing for the removal of some of the more liberal elements. I believe that the majority of Southern Baptists are conservative at heart, and it was only the bigger churches at the time that were more liberal, and tended to have more liberal pastors. That has changed a lot, with some of our bigger Churches now being some of more conservative Churches.
What helped, of course, was that the vast majority of SBC Churches are NOT "big" at all, but are comprised of less than 125 active members.
In our convention, the local Churches send "messengers" (not delegates) to the annual meetings, and these "messengers" vote on issues pertaining to the convention's business. No Church can have more than 10 messengers, regardless of size. This is so a couple of Churches of 40,000 cannot overrule the vast majority of church congregations who might only be able to send 1 or 2 or 4 messengers (depending on the Church's size, but no more than 10 total).
Over time, and through some pretty contentious annual meetings, the conservatives began to win ballot after ballot (the key being the Presidency, of which Adrian Rogers of Memphis was the first) until the liberals got mad and decided to start their own state conventions. (the strategy was to elect ten conservative presidents in a row, because they appoint heads of boards and committees)
In Texas, the Baptist General Convention of Texas is the predominant STATE convention, so a bunch of us conservatives started up a new State Convention - the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.
I think that's enough for an introduction for now.
It is, to my knowledge, the only large denomination that has ever "drifted left", then came back to conservative roots.
It began in the late 70's / early 80's with a systematic election of conservatives to SBC boards and committees, as well as the presidency. The aim was to take the SBC from a liberal trajectory to a clear declaration of inerrancy.
I remember well the liberals pitching fits and yelling about those "Fun-DAMN-mentalists".
I, of course, was one of the conservatives pushing for the removal of some of the more liberal elements. I believe that the majority of Southern Baptists are conservative at heart, and it was only the bigger churches at the time that were more liberal, and tended to have more liberal pastors. That has changed a lot, with some of our bigger Churches now being some of more conservative Churches.
What helped, of course, was that the vast majority of SBC Churches are NOT "big" at all, but are comprised of less than 125 active members.
In our convention, the local Churches send "messengers" (not delegates) to the annual meetings, and these "messengers" vote on issues pertaining to the convention's business. No Church can have more than 10 messengers, regardless of size. This is so a couple of Churches of 40,000 cannot overrule the vast majority of church congregations who might only be able to send 1 or 2 or 4 messengers (depending on the Church's size, but no more than 10 total).
Over time, and through some pretty contentious annual meetings, the conservatives began to win ballot after ballot (the key being the Presidency, of which Adrian Rogers of Memphis was the first) until the liberals got mad and decided to start their own state conventions. (the strategy was to elect ten conservative presidents in a row, because they appoint heads of boards and committees)
In Texas, the Baptist General Convention of Texas is the predominant STATE convention, so a bunch of us conservatives started up a new State Convention - the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.
I think that's enough for an introduction for now.
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