The Cooperation Group, named to study what “friendly cooperation of faith and practice” means for Southern Baptist churches, released its initial report May 1 with four recommendations to be considered by messengers during the upcoming annual meeting in Indianapolis.
The Cooperation Group members are chair Jared Wellman, Bart Barber, Kason Branch, Victor Chayasirisobhon, Jerome Coleman, Don Currence, Tara Dew, Nathan Finn, Donna Gaines, Matt Henslee, Travis Kerns, Richard Land, Jonathan Leeman, Jason Paredes, Greg Perkins, Jim Richards, Juan Sanchez, Andrew Walker, Trevin Wax and Tony Wolfe.
“After much prayer, study, and conversation, the Cooperation Group offers several recommendations to the Convention we hope will prioritize and emphasize the authority of messengers in defining the boundaries of our cooperation while clarifying and refining our structure.”
The recommendations are:
Recommendation 1: “To ensure that edits or amendments to The Baptist Faith & Message follow the same process as amendments to the Constitution (two-thirds vote, two consecutive years), we recommend the Executive Committee propose changes to our governing documents for the Convention’s consideration at the 2025 Annual Meeting.”
Recommendation 2: “To ensure that the sole authority for seating messengers is vested in the messenger body, we recommend the Executive Committee propose changes to our governing documents for the Convention’s consideration at the 2025 Annual Meeting. We also recommend celebrating churches seating messengers for the first time.”
Recommendation 3: “To ensure the fidelity of our trustees to our doctrinal confession, we recommend the Executive Committee propose changes to our governing documents for the Convention’s consideration at the 2025 Annual Meeting to require the Committee on Nominations to nominate as entity trustees and standing committee members only those candidates who affirm the Convention’s adopted statement of faith.”
Recommendation 4: “To clarify our cooperative unity, we recommend the Executive Committee evaluate the usefulness and accuracy of a public list of churches and report their updates at the 2025 Annual Meeting.”
