SBC Resolution
WHEREAS, First Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia was founded in the year of our Lord, 1800 by Christians espousing beliefs and doctrines called Baptist; and
WHEREAS, the second pastor of First Baptist Church, the Reverend William Bullein Johnson, was the primary founding father of the Southern Baptist Convention, having written its first Constitution; and
WHEREAS, First Baptist Church has been a member of the Southern Baptist Convention for 155 years of the Church’s 200-year history; and
WHEREAS, during the past two hundred years of the church’s mission and ministry in Savannah, First Baptist Church has strongly fostered religious education, congregational leadership, ecumenism, freedom of the individual, priesthood of all believers and soul competency; and
WHEREAS, First Baptist Church has participated over the years with numerous like-minded organizations when the Church felt its work could best be accomplished through a cooperative effort; and
WHEREAS, in recent years, it has become increasingly clear that the directions and goals of the Southern Baptist Convention have diverged from those envisioned by its founding fathers and from those of the members of First Baptist Church; and
WHEREAS, this divergence stems from differing views on the role of the pastor in church government, autonomy of local congregations, the priesthood of all believers and the Convention’s view that orthodox adherence to its view is prerequisite to full participation in Baptist life; and
WHEREAS, public understanding of who and what First Baptist Church stands for is to a great extent dependent on how it presents itself to the community; its approach to religious tolerance and freedom; how it expresses the strength of its convictions, and that the failure to stand by those convictions would be an unconscionable retreat from those principles; and
WHEREAS, an exhaustive study by church committees, affirmed by the Diaconate, has demonstrated that the effectiveness of First Baptist Church for the foreseeable future is best served by dissolving the formal ties that bind it to the Southern Baptist Convention.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Members of the First Baptist Church of Savannah, Georgia do hereby express and affirm those values which, over the years, have shown the congregation and its work to be caring, unselfish, willing to work with Christians of other denominations in the furtherance of God’s Kingdom and encompassing diverse viewpoints.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that First Baptist Church, consistent with those things which it holds dear, recognizing that informal relationships may continue, hereby formally dissolves its institutional ties with the Southern Baptist Convention.
Adopted this 15th day of October 2000.