Many Southern Baptists believe the gospel hinges on Jesus’ redemptive work, not leftist politics, and are increasingly resistant to what they see as manipulative leadership.
By: Jon Harris
Over the past decade, a growing divide has emerged within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), as denominational leaders have increasingly framed left-leaning border policies as a Christian imperative.
Last week, Baptist Press, the official news service of the SBC, published an article by Trevin Wax, a vice president at the SBC’s North American Mission Board, in which he defended his denomination’s participation in “refugee resettlement” against those he claimed have a “deep misunderstanding of how disaster relief, foster care or refugee resettlement takes place.”
This comes on the heels of the Center for Baptist Leadership (a conservative element in the SBC) discovering that the SBC’s Send Relief, in partnership with World Relief, “took nearly $70,000 in Biden State Department funds” for “refugee resettlement.”
The SBC’s Send Network has offered churches resources, including grants, to resettle migrants, which, according to World Relief, includes things like teaching them how to use credit cards, file taxes, and use their EBT card to access resources like food stamps. Though organizations like SEND and World Relief refer to these migrants as refugees, it should be pointed out that many are asylum seekers who may not ultimately be granted refugee status.
The fault lines emerging over this issue are not new, and they are likely to grow as members of America’s largest Protestant denomination prepare for their annual meeting in June. Southern Baptist voters tend to be politically conservative and were part of the 82 percent of evangelicals who favored Donald Trump for president in 2024. However, the denomination’s leadership class has made immigrant assistance a test of Christian love and thus driven the denomination into opposing conservative border policies.
In recent years, there has been a noticeable shift away from charity alone and toward politically advocating for asylum seekers. The SBC’s 2023 resolution “On Wisely Engaging Immigration” is much different from a similar resolution from 2006 in that it gives the government the responsibility to “care for migrants” and promotes using immigration to diversify churches. Gone is the term “illegal,” as well as calls to punish “employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.” In 2006, the Southern Baptists who attended annual meetings wanted the federal government to enforce existing laws, but today they want the creation of new, more “compassionate” ones.