No Reformation Without Separation

When the 1,125 delegates of the American Baptist Churches Pacific South West (84% of voting delegates) directed their Board to withdraw from the American Baptist Churches in the USA, they did the only thing that might save the denomination from its downward spiral. They essentially said "By your position regarding God's revelation in God's Word, the Bible, you have separated yourself from us in spirit, so we now must separate organizationally from you." As difficult a decision as that may have been for some of the PSW churches, it was the best thing they could have done for us in ABCUSA. Hopefully, as a result of this major separation the denominational leaders will "come back to the Bible" and accept its teaching as our authority, and live it out organizationally in our life together. If they do not the future of ABCUSA is bleak. It may limp along as a dying bureaucracy for years, but it will be clear that it has lost the baptistic biblically evangelistic spirit that gives baptist denominations their life. Thank you PSW for doing what you had to do, and for opening the door to reformation, revival, and restoration in ABCUSA. There is no reformation without separation. I believe that ABCPSW will be wonderfully blessed by God in its ministry and outreach and its life together. May God bring reformation to the ABCUSA because of PSW's faithful step.