Richmond, Virginia, First Baptist Church votes to withdraw from Southern Baptist Convention

The First Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia, voted to withdraw from the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) at a special called business meeting held in its Fellowship Hall during the Sunday school hour. According to the pastor’s first-person account, the room was full and tense as members gathered.

Deacon Chair Daniel Hocutt opened the meeting with a welcome and a request for respectful discussion. He then read the motion, which stated that the board of deacons recommended that the church “withdraw as a cooperating church in the Southern Baptist Convention in response to the SBC’s proposed constitutional amendment requiring pastors and elders of its cooperating churches to be men.”

The pastor gave historical background on the church’s relationship with the SBC. He said he had recently learned that the convention’s first meeting was held at the church in 1846, and that Pastor Jeremiah Bell Jeter was elected as the first president of the Foreign Mission Board.

After the background, members were invited to speak. The account says some spoke of their love for the church’s retired SBC missionaries and of its long support for missions. Others spoke of their commitment to female clergy and to supporting women in ministry at every level. Some asked where the church’s mission offerings would go if it left the convention, while others suggested setting that question aside for later.

Around 10:30, the pastor proposed closing the discussion and holding a vote. A member moved the question, another seconded it, and Hocutt called for a voice vote. The account reports a loud and enthusiastic “Aye” and only a few “Nay” responses. The account describes the result as ending a relationship of 179 years.

The pastor wrote that there were no cheers or celebrations, and that the mood in the room was one of quiet grief and gratitude. He said the church affirms the principle of congregational autonomy, believing that every Baptist church may determine its own mission and ministry and ordain whomever it considers gifted for ministry, male or female. He added that while the SBC cannot dictate the church’s decisions, the convention had made clear it did not want to be associated with churches like theirs.

Related coverage notes that a second vote on the proposed Law Amendment is expected to take place at the SBC’s summer annual meeting.

Source: Read the original report