Southern Baptists Discuss Racial Unity with Black Baptist Leader

Veronica Neffinger | iBelieve Contributor | Updated: Jun 10, 2016

Southern Baptists Discuss Racial Unity with Black Baptist Leader

Leaders from the Southern Baptist Convention are meeting together on Tuesday, and the SBC’s president Ronnie Floyd is hoping to address the issue of racism.

After 18-year-old African-American Michael Brown was shot by a white police officer, and the officer was acquitted, the city of Ferguson, Missouri erupted in riots and unrest. The name Ferguson became a symbol of the racial injustice that still exists in the U.S.

Now, nearly two years later, SBC leaders will meet with Jerry Young, the president of the nation’s largest historically black denomination, the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A in St. Louis, about 20 minutes from Ferguson. 

SBC president Ronnie Floyd remarked on the providential nature of the meeting’s location:

"It's providential and amazing!" he exclaimed, adding that the location of the meeting was set years before the Ferguson unrest occurred.

Floyd had previously penned a letter, along with an interracial group of fellow ministers, that called on SBC leaders, pastors from all denominations, and all Christians to address the issue of racism.

And that is what the meeting in St. Louis will focus on.

"The church can't call on America to repent of anything until the church repents,” stated Floyd. “And Southern Baptists can't call on the country to repent until Southern Baptists repent."

The SBC leaders hope that addressing the issue of racism will also spark a revival in the Southern Baptist Church, whose numbers have been declining

Publication date: June 10, 2016



Southern Baptists Discuss Racial Unity with Black Baptist Leader