Southern Baptists order missionaries to affirm doctrine
RICHMOND, Va. - The Southern Baptist Convention has told its overseas missionaries they have until May 5 to affirm the denomination's revised statement of faith - a document that opposes female pastors and says wives should submit to their husbands - or they could be fired.
The message was directed at a couple of dozen holdouts, since nearly all the denomination's 5,500 missionaries already have agreed to support the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, said the Rev. Jerry Rankin, president of the SBC's International Mission Board.
"I pray that you might reconsider your position and join your fellow missionaries in cooperating with the request I have made," Rankin said in a letter to one of the holdouts last week.
Rankin sent letters to 25 missionaries asking them to affirm the statement, resign from their posts, or face possible dismissal.
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