Time Line
1986-2002
Prepared by Stan Hastey
Download our history time line as a WORD document.
1986
Against the backdrop of the crisis in the Southern Baptist Convention, an ad hoc group of concerned Baptist leaders convened twice, in September and December, to begin exploring the prospect of forming an alliance of individuals and congregations that would reaffirm historic Baptist principles of freedom and assess future organizational prospects. These initial gatherings were held on the campus of Meredith College, Raleigh, NC, and Providence Baptist Church, Charlotte.
1987
Two additional meetings, held at Providence church in January and February, were highlighted by decisions to adopt a Covenant of principles and announce the formation of the Southern Baptist Alliance. The latter was done on Feb. 12 at news conferences in Charlotte, Raleigh and Atlanta. The Alliance's first Annual Convocation was held May 14-15 at Meredith College, where William Henry Crouch, pastor of Providence Baptist Church in Charlotte was elected the Alliance's first president. An office housing the Alliance was opened at Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte and two part-time office workers were employed.
1988
During the Alliance's second annual Convocation, held at Mercer University in Macon, GA, Professor Alan Neely of Southeastern seminary was elected acting executive director. The Alliance's first published work, Being Baptist Means Freedom," edited by Neely, was unveiled.
1989
Stan Hastey began service Jan. 1 as the Alliance's first executive director following 15 years on the staff of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs. A month later he was joined by the Alliance's second full-time employee, Associate Director Jeanette Holt, who also had worked at the BJC. During the Alliance's third Convocation, delegates elected the organization's first female president, missiologist Anne Thomas Neil of Wake Forest, NC. A book she co-edited with Virginia Neely, The New Has Come, featuring stories of women in ministry, was published by the Alliance. Another highlight of the 1989 Convocation was a decisive vote to proceed with establishment of what later became Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond.
1990
During the 1990 Convocation, held in St. Louis, the Alliance adopted its first position statement, "A Call to Repentance," dealing with the historic sins of slavery and racism. The document became the basis for an open-ended relationship with the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., one of the major African-American Baptist bodies in the U.S. Five years later, on Aug. 8, 1995, the two bodies held an historic joint session in Charlotte, NC, during which President Bill Clinton cited the relationship as exemplary. Richard Groves of Winston-Salem, NC, was elected Alliance president and led the initiative on race and racism.
1991
In a major missions initiative, the Alliance began a formal relationship with the Fraternidad de Iglesias Bautistas de Cuba, an association of progressive congregations on the Caribbean island. In the intervening decade, the two bodies have co-sponsored numerous projects and events, most notably two dozen congregational partnerships. During 1990-1991, the Alliance received and disbursed funds from its first annual Mission Offering.
1992
At its fifth anniversary Convocation in Charlotte, the organization changed its name from Southern Baptist Alliance to The Alliance of Baptists, thus signaling a formal distancing of itself from the Southern Baptist Convention. Ann Quattlebaum of Greenville, SC, was elected president. Following 15 months of discussions with the newly formed Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, the two groups affirmed one another while deciding to maintain separate identities. One tangible byproduct of the discussions was a mutual commitment not to compete in or duplicate mission efforts.
1995
During an eventful Convocation held in Vienna, VA, the Alliance adopted two ground-breaking documents, "A Baptist Statement on Jewish-Christian Relations," and the final report of a Task Force on Human Sexuality inviting churches to examine their posture on homosexuality. The Convocation's final session, led by outgoing President John Ewing Roberts of Baltimore, was held at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, marking the first occasion a Christian group had been invited to use the facility. Since 1995, Roberts has continued to lead Alliance initiatives in Jewish-Christians relations in collaboration with the Institute of Christian and Jewish Studies in Baltimore.
1996
Meeting at Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte, the Alliance elected President Nancy Hastings Sehested of Clyde, NC, the first clergywoman to hold the post.
1998
The year's highlight was adoption of the Alliance Mission statement after a two-year visioning process led by President Sehested. C. Welton Gaddy was elected to succeed her.
The Alliance accepted an invitation from the Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe to become its new U.S.-based partner. This followed three years of support of the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zimbabwe.
2000
At the end of a two-year application process, the Alliance was admitted as the 36th member communion of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, thereby fulfilling one of its principal ecumenical objectives. Paula Clayton Dempsey, chaplain of Mars Hill College, was elected president.
2002
Meeting in Washington in January, a joint dialogue team of the Alliance and the United Church of Christ began a third and final round of conversations leading to a formal partnership anticipated to begin next year. Following four years of preliminary talks and authorizing actions, the two bodies have invited the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to join the process on an observer basis.