Kim, Lotz long for unity

By Tony W. Cartledge

BR Editor

Baptist World Alliance (BWA) president Billy Kim still holds to hope that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) might avert or delay its withdrawal from the worldwide fellowship of Baptists, but doesn't really expect to see it happen.

After a morning message at Campbell University March 2, Kim responded to reporters' questions about his efforts to keep the SBC and BWA together. Kim was nominated to become president of BWA by former SBC president Jimmy Draper in 2000, and elected to a five-year term.

The prospect of division threatened, he said, when the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) sought admission to the BWA. Kim said he and other BWA leaders proposed efforts toward reconciliation between the SBC and CBF. SBC leaders told him that if CBF could be shown to be a separate denomination, they would nominate CBF for membership, Kim said.

But, when CBF leaders produced a list of 20 reasons why the CBF should be recognized as a separate entity, SBC leaders would not accept the reasoning, Kim said.

CBF's application was tabled for two years, but the BWA is a democratic organization and by the third year they needed to deal with it, Kim said. In July 2003, representatives to the BWA's General Council, meeting in Rio de Janeiro, voted on the issue by secret ballot and "an overwhelming majority" voted to accept CBF as a member, he said.

Two SBC leaders came to Kim shortly after the vote, saying, "If they come in, we'll go out," he said.

BWA General Secretary Denton Lotz corroborated that in remarks at a meeting March 2 at Hollifield Leadership Center.

"I think it comes down to CBF," he said.

Kim wanted to bring the two groups together so badly that, during the 2002 meeting in Seville, Spain, he offered to resign as president, lest anyone think he was responsible for the SBC's movement away from BWA. But countless e-mails assured him that he was not to blame and he reconsidered.

"If this had happened in my first year, I might have resigned," he said. "But now I am committed to the full five years."

Kim said he is still mystified by the depth of conflict between "conservatives" and "moderates" that divided the Southern Baptist Convention. But it is obvious that some leaders hold personal vendettas because of the fighting, he said, and have hard feelings that have yet to be resolved.

SBC accusations that BWA members do not believe in Christ as the only source of salvation are unfair, and differences over issues such as women's leadership in churches should be recognized as culturally based, he said.

Baptists are different in every country, Kim said. "In Korea, any two Baptist churches will be different. I think that is a beautiful thing about Baptists, local autonomy."

Kim, who is pastor of the 15,000-member Central Baptist Church in Seoul, South Korea, said his church has 2,300 women deaconesses who serve as cell group leaders. "We could not do it without the women," he said. "Most men just attend, but women do all the work and give most of the money. That's our culture."

"I'm for the cause of Christ," Kim said, like other world Baptists who are grateful to both the SBC and the CBF for their mission work.

Lotz said many of the statements that SBC officials oppose were made in forums meant to encourage discussion about various issues. "Hurtful things" can be said in these forums, but that doesn't mean the BWA approves of them, he said.

"We don't want division," Lotz said. "We don't want schism."

Many press reports have focused on the money BWA will lose if the SBC withdraws, he said. The SBC is contributing $300,000 to the BWA this year, a figure that was cut $125,000 last year.

Lotz said he hopes churches will make up the loss if the SBC leaves.

"It's not a question of finances for us," he said. "It's a question of unity.

"We're not angry at Southern Baptists. We're not bitter."

World Baptists are far removed from the conflict between the SBC and CBF and don't understand it, Kim said. While meeting with Baptist leaders in Taipei and in Cambodia recently, "they asked me why the SBC is pulling out of the BWA. They don't understand."

"I wish there was no fight," Kim said, expressing a hope that someone would lead the SBC to at least postpone its withdrawal until after BWA's centennial celebration in 2005.

Kim said he doesn't expect that to happen, but has not given up hope. "We will see how God works," he said. "I'm a strong believer in God."