(RNS) — Baptist leaders are creating a new network focused on Black churches and communities in light of what some see as growing nationalism among evangelicals and wider political decisions they feel are detrimental.
“The conflating of faith with this rightward drift and the infringement not only on the autonomy of the church but all issues related to justice, the Voting Rights Act, the deification of (conservative activist) Charlie Kirk and all of these things have given us great concern,” Pastor Gregory Perkins, spokesperson for The Baptist Network, told Religion News Service.
Perkins, who is the immediate past president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s National African American Fellowship, said a meeting was scheduled for Monday (June 29) at the Arlington, Texas, church of Pastor Dwight McKissic, one of the network’s conveners and a leader who successfully encouraged Southern Baptists to adopt resolutions criticizing the Confederate flag and condemning white supremacy in 2016 and 2017.
Leaders expected to attend or join the network are affiliated with groups such as the American Baptist Churches USA, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, Southern Baptist Convention and historic Black Baptist denominations such as the Progressive National Baptist Convention, National Baptist Convention of America and National Baptist Convention, USA.
Their focus is not to become another denomination, but “a connector and a catalyzer,” Perkins said.
The network will comprise representatives of predominantly Black churches or denominations in North America but also aims to be racially inclusive, he added.
RELATED: Southern Baptists’ resolutions reflect support of Christian nationalism, scholar says
The group, which plans to have its official launch in the fall at a meeting of dozens of leaders, said in a news release that they have “grown weary of being criticized …