The Baptist General Convention of Texas, aligned with the Southern Baptist Convention, recently notified a Dallas and an Austin church that their stances on affirming sexual relationships outside the scope of biblical marriage between a man and a woman puts them outside the bounds of cooperation with the state convention. That means the BGCT will no longer accept funds from the church, seat its messengers to the annual meeting and allow the church to express affiliation with the state convention, among other things.

Chelsen Vicari, evangelical program director for the Institute on Religion & Democracy, tells OneNewsNow this is a very good move to handle the deviation from biblical truth.

Vicari

“I am proud of the convention for standing by traditional Christian teaching on sexual ethics,” she says.

The last time the BGCT had to discipline a church over homosexuality was back in 2010. Vicari says the issue is divisive and must be dealt with.

“Same-sex marriage is a cultural issue challenging the church right now, and we can’t get away from it,” she says.

Vicari remains hopeful the Texas churches that have strayed away from the truth can eventually be renewed again.