CU in CT

My undergrad alma mater, Cedarville University, is in the news. There's an article in Christianity Today about CU, the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (GARBC), and the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).

The General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (GARBC) voted in June to sever ties with Cedarville University. GARBC said the school's "public relationship with Southern Baptists was not considered to be in harmony with the GARBC purpose statement."

Earlier this year, the Council of Eighteen, the GARBC governing body, adopted a statement on why the association should separate from the Ohio school. At the 2006 annual conference in June, GARBC messengers ratified the statement 311 to 283. They concluded that "Southern Baptists are inclusivists and permit the presence and ministry of liberals within the convention."

In 2000, the GARBC discontinued its approval system for partner ministries, which included Baptist Bible College and Seminary near Scranton, Pennsylvania. Cedarville and other schools maintained ties with the GARBC through displays at the annual conference and a scholarship program. In 2002, the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio (affiliated with the SBC) decided to recommend Cedarville to the state's Southern Baptists. When Cedarville applied to display at the 2005 GARBC conference, the GARBC declined, because of the school's new SBC affiliation.

I agree with Brian Orme's assessment. He graduated from CU three years after me.

I also like what Brian McCrorie has said.

The university has a written statement about its historical connection to the GARBC, which you can read here.

Read here about the GARBC's reported issues with Cedarville. John Greening, the GARBC national representative, issued a statement about Cedarville - read here.

The overkill in this article about Cedarville's speaking invitation to Brooklyn Tabernacle pastor Jim Cymbala is palpable:

Beware of schools which profess to be fundamentalist and Baptist but which are neither in practice. Beware of the leaven of compromise which is flooding into fundamental Baptist churches, schools, evangelistic and mission institutions. It is not the time to cover ones eyes and pretend that all is well. It is not the time to keep quiet about error and compromise. By refusing to speak out against compromise in their own ranks, God's people pave the road to apostasy.