It seems that a conservative Southern Baptist Convention is quickly becoming a thing of the past. More and more churches are leaving the denomination, citing its descent into theological “moderate-ism” and its tolerance of liberalism and social justice as the primary reasons for their departure.

At the heart of the issue is the SBC’s embrace of social justice, a dangerous and heretical ideology that seeks to water down the teachings of the Bible, pervert the gospel, and cater to the whims of a progressive, secular society. This is evidenced by many Southern Baptist churches that have added works of social justice to the gospel and involve the inclusion of these non-Christian beliefs and practices in their religion.

But the SBC’s slide into what seems to be a true apostasy doesn’t stop there. The denomination has also embraced the dangerous and divisive ideology of critical race theory (CRT-I), which seeks to divide people along racial lines and pit them against each other. This toxic ideology has no place in the Church, and yet much of the SBC has embraced it wholeheartedly while the rest seems to be at least well-tolerating it.

And if all of that weren’t bad enough, the SBC has also been plagued by financial mismanagement and a lack of transparency when it comes to their expenditures, particularly from non-transparent and nearly unaccountable entities like the North American Missions Board (NAMB) and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). This has led to widespread misuse of funds with many church leaders and members calling for greater accountability and transparency from the SBC leadership, but seemingly unable to get it.

In the end, it’s no wonder that more and more churches are choosing to leave the Southern Baptist Convention. We’ve reported on many over the last few years, but here’s another one. Gracepoint Fellowship, a Southern Baptist congregation just outside of Houston, TX, just voted this past Sunday to withdraw from the Southern Baptist Convention. In an email obtained by The Dissenter, the pastor, Gary Ladd, urged the congregation to vote this way citing the usual liberal drift. Addressing the church in the email, Ladd wrote:

In brief that letter shared our disheartenment of the fall of our convention into moderate-ism, Liberalism, Toleration of untruth, Jesus + practices, Woke-ism, CRT-I, Social Justice, misuse of funds and an outright refusal to be transparent about their expenditures. Those and other factors led us (The investigation Committee, Staff, Trustees, Deacons and pastor) to recommend that we (GracePoint) should withdraw from the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).

In this letter, which was also obtained by The Dissenter, Ladd wrote to the congregation:

After 3 years of prayer, seeking the heart of God, and much research, I and our committee have come to the conclusion that, The SBC shift is headed in the wrong direction, and it has too small a rudder to turn itself around. With a deeply saddened heart over the decline of our once great and conservative convention, we feel we must recommend that we (GPFBC) remove our fellowship from the SBC. Perhaps one day (I pray in our near future) the leaders of this once great convention will repent and show a real desire to return to biblical conservatism and truth.

Ladd said that his “greatest regret in leaving the SBC is losing the mission factor of the Cooperative Program.”

“God’s Word tells us we are responsible with whom we affiliate (Psalm 1; 1 Corinthians 5:11, 15:33); it is time for a
change,” Ladd wrote, “I feel the liberal element is so ingrained in the SBC that we can no longer make enough difference to change it. The moderates have taken over and outright liberalism will follow and grow worse.”