Roger Williams Fellowship

MEDIA RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contacts:     

Rev. Timothy Bonney, Webmaster, tbonney@gmail.com
Rev. Dr. Joe Kutter, editorial, joekut@aol.com

May 1, 2006--Roger Williams Fellowship board responds to recent actions by delegates of the ABC Pacific Southwest Region.

”The board of directors of the Roger Williams Fellowship laments the announcement that delegates voted to affirm withdrawal proceedings of the ABC Pacific Southwest region from the covenant of relationships and other official ties with the American Baptist Churches/USA. We invite all concerned with this situation to pray for those persons, congregations, and denominational entities affected by this decision.

We express regret that the PSW board of directors felt that "deep differences of theological convictions and values between the American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest (ABCPSW) and the American Baptist Churches in the USA (ABCUSA) are understood by the Board of Directors of the ABCPSW as irreconcilable." (source: ABC-PSW press release on 4/29/06). The churches of this region have been part of the denominational family for many decades, and their presence at the denominational Table will be missed.

Our regret, however, is tempered by a repudiation of the methods suggested by the ABC PSW board to reconcile these differences. By their insisting that one policy statement (i.e. 1992 statement on homosexuality) becomes THE normative document through which denominational identity, leadership, and even hermeneutics and Baptist principles are understood, the PSW leadership articulate a fundamentally flawed vision of what it means to be part of the American Baptist Churches/USA. While we regret that the leadership deems withdrawal is necessary, we are more deeply troubled by their insistence in undercutting the values held dear by the Baptist tradition, particular as understood by American Baptists and their Northern Baptist forebears. We affirm that God alone is sovereign over the individual conscience, and that each local church has the responsibility to determine God’s calling for that community’s time and mission.

The Roger Williams Fellowship is an American Baptist grassroots organization advocating for Baptist principles since 1935.

For more information, visit www.rogerwilliamsfellowship.org