The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship is No More!

I predict that there will be much said on this topic.

There’s a Conservative Baptist Fellowship Foundation. http://www.cbff.org/

I think the word “Foundations” is awkward but don’t have any suggestions for the moment (not that they want any).

Well, that’s interesting.

Word comes to us that the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International is no more. At their recent board meeting, we understand that the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship leadership voted to change their name to Foundations Baptist Fellowship, retaining the FBF shorthand version but changing its name because the term “fundamental” is no longer useful. We understand they intend to continue to “proclaim and defend the historic Baptist fundamentals.” At the time of this writing, the fbfi.org website has yet to be updated but we assume this is coming soon.

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I mean … was it even ethical to share this news?

Sharper Iron may want to ask themselves the same question

I noticed this Central Seminary blog post tonight, then jumped over to Sharper Iron to see if it re-posted here. I was kind of hoping that it hadn’t, but was sadly disappointed. It is not the possible name change that disappoints me. There are perfectly legitimate reasons for such a thing. What disappoints me is the tasteless handling of this information.

If the FBFI intends to make such a change to their name, I’d think it would be appropriate and respectful to wait until they actually do so, giving them the chance to provide a clear explanation and so forth. Isn’t that the right and reasonable thing to do?

But to post news like this, with a dramatic, disingenuous title such as “The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship is No More!”, catches me as rather unprofessional, and nothing more than gossip and click-baiting - but perhaps I’m missing something. The FBFI has a rich and special place in the fundamentalist heritage, nothing to be tossed around in online banter like this. In particular, I find this surprising since it is coming, not from a regular news outlet, but from the blog of an upstanding Fundamental Baptist Seminary.

This is a true report. It’s not gossip, just an announcement of something that really happened. If I wanted to criticize an aspect of this event, it would be that the FBF either made this decision on the spur of the moment or didn’t consider it worth publicizing. Any professional organization that is undertaking a name change would have done preparatory work and had public announcements and web site changes ready to go.

But to post news like this, with a dramatic, disingenuous title such as “The Fundamental Baptist Fellowship is No More!”, catches me as rather unprofessional, and nothing more than gossip and click-baiting - but perhaps I’m missing something. The FBFI has a rich and special place in the fundamentalist heritage, nothing to be tossed around in online banter like this.

Given the way the FBFI has ‘reported’ the issues at NIU and then with this ‘convergent’ threat, I find any complaints about ‘unprofessionalism’ and ‘click-bait’ treatment of the organization a little hard to swallow. Pot meets kettle and all that.

As for whether or not the story could/should have leaked; I think Ben Franklin’s aphorism is appropriate here - “Three men may keep a secret when two of them are dead.”

As a paid up member of the FBFI, I find the change an interesting one.

The new name does not exactly inspire enthusiasm but then the word ‘fundamental’ does have a negative connotation these days. There must have been a few options to choose from and this was considered the next best choice. The next edition of Frontline should have some more info.

if my memory serves, Bob Jones suggested using the word Foundation as a replacement for the word Fundamental. Does anyone else recall that, or was it just a vision I had upon my bed after eating too much pizza?