Letter: Texas Baptists bylaws recommendations explained

Re: Texas Baptists bylaws recommendations explained

If the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board has the authority to determine which churches may participate in the convention, and those churches elect convention leadership, we risk reversing the traditional Baptist understanding that the convention belongs to its cooperating churches.

Historically, Texas Baptists have emphasized local church autonomy, voluntary cooperation, congregational governance, freedom of conscience, and shared responsibility for missions and theological education.

While authorizing the Executive Board to determine harmonious cooperation and remove churches by a two-thirds vote offers organizational efficiency and privacy for sensitive matters, it concentrates final authority in a smaller governing body rather than the messengers representing cooperating churches.

My principal concerns include:

Membership gatekeeping: The Executive Board indirectly influences which churches can send messengers and participate in future convention decisions.

Lack of accountability: It remains unclear whether a church can appeal an adverse Executive Board decision directly to the messengers.

Institutional rationale: Avoiding difficult or embarrassing public discussions should not take precedence over protecting the churches’ right to representation.

Long-term precedent: Constitutional protections must be evaluated by how future leadership might exercise them, regardless of current intentions.

The central question remains: Are Texas Baptists strengthening cooperation among autonomous churches, or gradually transferring authority from the churches to the Executive Board?
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David Mahfouz, chair, Baptist Distinctives Council
former BGCT Executive Board member