Business Meeting
The Alignment Team has called a church business meeting for Sunday, June 2 following the morning worship service. The AT will present the following three motions. Below the motions is an explanation and FAQs concerning motions 1 and 2. If you have any questions, please contact us at info@fairfaxcirclechurch.org.
Motion #1: The Alignment Team moves to amend the Fairfax Circle Baptist Church constitution as follows:
The Church shall be officially affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, the Baptist General Association of Virginia, and the NorthStar Church Network. These affiliations may be terminated, and other official affiliations established only by amending this Constitution. The Church will not be affiliated with or officially support a political party or group.
Motion #2: The Alignment Team moves to disaffiliate with The Southern Baptist Convention.
Motion $3: The Alignment Team moves to adopt the following statement of inclusion:
Fairfax Circle Church welcomes and values all people and recognizes we are all created in God’s image, and in Christ we are God’s children. Therefore, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, abilities, income, or political beliefs we invite you to participate fully in the life of our church.
While our members have different beliefs and opinions on theological matters and issues of social concern, we believe that what unites us as followers of Jesus is more important than what divides us. This statement of inclusion signifies our mutual commitment to worship and serve God together, and to treat each other with love and respect regardless of our differences.
Explanation and FAQs for Motions 1 and 2
Last June at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention an amendment was made and passed that changes the SBC bylaws. The amendment adds a new requirement to Article III, stating the SBC will only cooperate with churches that “affirm, appoint or employ only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by scripture.” This change puts our church in direct conflict with the convention.
Our church has a long history of affirming women’s roles in the church, both as lay-leaders and as Pastors, and the Alignment Team recognizes that this is a value of our church that we are not willing to compromise on.
We also know it is just a matter of time before the Credentials Committee either asks us to remove the title of Pastor from current female staff members or finds us to be out of fellowship with the convention and removes our membership. Several churches have already been disfellowshipped over this issue, and we know that our church, along with a large number of other churches, has had a complaint submitted to the SBC Credentials Committee since we currently employ women with the title “Pastor.”
The Alignment Team feels it would be better for our church to voluntarily disaffiliate with the SBC rather than being disfellowshipped. We feel the unwanted attention that being disfellowshipped would bring within the broader church community and in the media would be a distraction from our mission and would not serve any good purpose.
Below are some anticipated questions and answers about these motions.
- If we leave the SBC will we still be Baptist? Yes. Being Baptist is about our distinctives, not about our organizational affiliations. Some of those distinctives are a belief in scripture as being authoritative, the autonomy of the local church, baptism by immersion, the priesthood of all believers (every believer has direct and immediate access to God), and a congregational form of church government.
- What other organizations are we officially affiliated with? We are official members of The Baptist General Association of Virginia and NorthStar Church Network.
The BGAV is a group of Baptist churches in Virginia who cooperate together for mission work and disaster relief in Virginia, training church leaders and providing resources for churches. Our church’s 501(c)3 is also provided through the BGAV.
NorthStar Church Network is a local group of churches in the Northern Virginia area. NorthStar also provides support and resources to churches and leaders.
- Do we lose anything if we leave the SBC? No. Our church owns our property and building, and our finances are not connected to the SBC or any other organization. We are a completely autonomous church and affiliate voluntarily with the SBC, BGAV and NorthStar. And as stated above, our 501(c)3 is secured through the BGAV which would not change.
- What resources has the SBC been providing to our church? The only resource provided to us by the SBC is through GuideStone, a financial entity of the SBC. Currently our staff has insurance and retirement plans through GuideStone. Our leaders have looked into this, and regardless of membership in the SBC we would still be able to use GuideStone as a provider for these plans.
- Does the church currently give financially to the SBC? No. In 2003 the church voted to no longer send funds to the SBC. All of our denominational financial contributions go to either BGAV or NorthStar Church Network.