THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 18, 1996 TAG: 9609180510
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 51 lines
The executive director of the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia said Tuesday that the new splinter group will not seek to pull churches away from the larger and more moderate Virginia Baptist General Association.
``We're not interested in going and talking to the churches, saying, `Why don't you come over to our side?' '' said H. Doyle Chauncey, 51, a former associate pastor at First Baptist Church of Norfolk who became executive director of the conservative group in March.
Instead, Chauncey said, the splinter group - which has 115 churches and about 50,000 congregants throughout the state - will put its efforts toward starting new churches and fuel its growth that way.
It will likely take years to reach the size of the Virginia Baptist General Association, which had the support of 1,561 churches at its annual meeting last year.
However, Baptist churches are allowed to affiliate with both state groups and it is not clear yet how many will choose to do so. ``My hope is they (eventually) would make a decision to go one way or the other,'' Chauncey said.
The conservative group on Monday voted unanimously to formally split from the moderate-controlled state association. Their decision makes Virginia the only state in the nation with two statewide Southern Baptist groups affiliated with the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention. The SBC is the nation's largest Protestant denomination with an estimated 16 million members.
The split is likely to have little impact on worship services at churches across the state, but it will cause confusion in the selection of Virginia representatives to SBC boards and agencies at the national level, pastors said.
The main point of division between Virginia Baptists arises over a literal reading of the Bible, and whether certain portions - such as the experience of Adam and Eve in Eden - are historical fact or myths designed to transmit a moral message. Conservatives oppose the work of scholars who question the Bible's historical accuracy.
The debate has spilled over to moral issues. While nearly all Baptists consider abortion and homosexuality to be sinful, conservatives have pushed for stronger public statements condemning both practices.
Chauncey said the two factions could not resolve these differences, so a split was the only solution. ``We decided that rather than staying in and throwing stones at each other, it would be better to separate and do our own thing and let them do theirs,'' he said.
The constant infighting had already damaged efforts to attract new Baptist believers, he said. ``Who wants to join a fight?'' MEMO: Staff writer David Poole contributed to this article. by CNB