by Sandy » Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:23 am
When I graduated from seminary, I spent two or three days with a committee from University Baptist in Huntsville which, at the time, was a congregation of about 400 with a lot of college professors and NASA employees. I don't think they ever joined CBF, but they were not completely on board with the direction of the SBC in many ways. I would conclude, from that experience, that the First Baptist Church, which was a much larger congregation (steeple on the property looks like a rocket getting ready to launch) would have the same influences of an educated community with a university campus and a high-tech government agency. It seems like a lot of CBF churches are in that same spot, a group of people within the church who are more actively opposed to the direction the SBC is going, and a larger but still somewhat moderate group willing to allow them the freedom to give and support what they want, as long as it is consistent with the mission and purpose of the church.
I have to wonder if CBF's leadership, whether it is its board or its executive, or the whole inner circle of the fellowship understand that churches like this are feeling left behind and left out because they really aren't changing as the inner core of the fellowship has changed. And they don't seem to understand that most of the churches that support them with budget money are very similar to this one, larger, more traditional congregations that aren't fundamentalist by doctrine or practice, but not far enough to the left to ordain a female senior pastor, or an LGBT deacon. And they want a place at the table, but are now feeling that they don't have one. It appears that conversation among those more progressive who now are in leadership at CBF has led churches like this to believe that not all they have to say, especially if it differs from the accepted view on female clergy or acceptance of same-gender relationships as normal, is welcome to be expresses in spite of rhetoric about inclusiveness and diversity used by CBF leaders to characterize itself. Here's one of the supporting congregations that is pretty mainstream CBF which feels left out.