Cooperative Baptist Fellowship - Timeline Event

Cecil Sherman

05-09-1991

After the conservative takeover of the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1979, theological moderates in the denomination fought back in a series of convention battles during the 1980s. After numerous losses, moderate leaders, including respected pastor Cecil Sherman, called for the formation of a new association of churches. In May 1991, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), announced its formation with a statement condemning the SBC's conservatives for their opposition to female ordination and overly literal biblical interpretations. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship immediately entered talks with a previous secessionist group formed in 1987, the Alliance of Baptists, but the older Alliance was too liberal and political for CBF moderates. Today, the Fellowship claims more than 1,900 member churches. In 2000, disappointed by the conservative revision of the SBC's Baptist Faith and Message, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter withdrew his membership from the SBC and joined the CBF.

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