Policy Statements and Resolutions
American Baptists over the years developed Policy Statements and Resolutions on a range of issues. Those documents were authorized by votes of what at one time was called the ABC General Board. In January 2012, the governance structure of the denomination was changed. Presently the work of the ABCUSA Office of the General Secretary is administered by the Board of General Ministries. In the current structure, it is understood that while the work of the Board of General Ministries continues to be guided by established and future Policy Statements, Resolutions and other declarations, they “in no way obligate American Baptist congregations or regions to any position or course of action.” Under the present structure only the Office of the General Secretary is specifically guided by those documents.
Definitions of “Policy Statements,” “Resolutions,” “Issues of Importance,” and “Call for Continuing Dialogue.”
POLICY STATEMENT – Adopted by a 3/4 majority vote of the General Board of American Baptist Churches, a policy statement represents the position of the ABC on a broad issue. Each policy statement lays down the principles on which American Baptist resolutions, programs or actions will be based.
RESOLUTION – Adopted by a 2/3 majority vote of the General Board of American Baptist Churches, a resolution represents the position of the ABC on a specific issue and calls for some type implementing action. All resolutions must be based on a policy statement.
DECLARATION ON AN ISSUE OF IMPORTANCE – Adopted by a majority vote of the General Board of American Baptist Churches, a declaration on an issue of importance represents the ABC on a current issue of compelling urgency which, if not immediately addressed, would lead to some loss of the General Board’s capacity to act in a timely fashion.
A CALL FOR CONTINUING DIALOGUE – A call for dialogue presents an important issue concerning which the General Board is not then in a position to declare policy or take other action.
Board of General Ministries policy documents are binding on national staff only and not on regions or local churches.
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A
Policy Statements:
Africa
Agricultural Labor
Resolutions:
ABC of the South (Priority of the)
Abortion, (Concerning, and Ministry in the Local Church)
Affirmative Action (In Support of)
AIDS Crisis
Alcoholism and Other Chemical Dependencies
American Bible Society (Historic)
American Indian Religious Freedom (In Support of)
Anti-Semitism
Armaments (Reduction of) (Historic)
Asylum
B
Policy Statement:
Baptism of Believers by Immersion (Historic)
Resolutions:
Being An Inviting People (Revised 3/05)
Bible Distribution (Historic)
BNM Resolution
Becoming a Reconciling People
C
Policy Statements:
Christian Unity
Church and Society (Women and Men as Partners in)
Church and State
Criminal Justice (Revised 9/04)
Resolutions:
Call to the Ministry of All Believers
Capital Punishment
Capital Punishment by Lethal Injection (Medical Societies &)
CERES Principles (formerly “Valdez Principles”)
Children in Poverty
Christian Conscience and Military Service
Christopher Columbus (Indigenous People and the 500th Anniversary of the Arrival of (Historic)
Church and Child Care
Church Identification
Church (Purpose of the)
Church Sanctuary for Central American Refugees (Historic)
Church World Service and Witness (In Support of)
Church’s Ministry to Service Personnel and Conscientious Objectors in Time of War (Historic)
Citizen Responsibility in the Political Process (Revised 6/07)
Citizenship in Elections
Civil Rights
Clean Air
Continuing Education
Creating World Community (Historic)
Cuba
BEM Resolution:
Churches and Public Education (Declaration of Commitments of the)
BIM Resolutions:
Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism
Cuba (USA Relations with)
BNM Resolution:
Children in Poverty
D
Policy Statement:
Denominational Inclusiveness
Resolutions:
D.C. Statehood
Death and Dying
Disabilities (The Church and Persons with)
E
Policy Statements:
Ecology (An Ecological Situational Analysis) (Revised 6/07)
Educational Mission of the Church
Employment (Revised 6/07)
Energy (Revised 6/07)
Evangelism
Resolutions:
Economic Justice
Economic Justice for the United States
Employee Rights and the Supreme Court
Employment of Persons with Disabilities
Employment of Minorities and Women (Revised 9/04)
Environmental Concerns
Equal Employment Opportunity Practices of Vendors
Equal Rights Amendment
F
Policy Statement:
Family Life
Resolutions:
Family Farm Crisis
Family Violence
Federal Recognition of Unrecognized Indian Nations (In Support of)
Food and Fuel Assistance
Freedom of Conscience and Worship
Freedom of the Pulpit and Pew (Revised 9/04)
G
Resolutions:
Gambling
Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts
Global Warming (Revised 6/07)
Golden Rule (Historic)
Gospel and Social Issues (Revised 9/04)
BNM Resolution:
Gambling and State Revenue
H
Policy Statements:
Health Care
Health, Healing, and Wholeness
Housing
Human Rights
Hunger
Resolutions:
Health Care For All
Homosexuality
Housing and the Homeless
Human Rights in Latin America
Human Sexuality (Calling for Dialogue on Issues of)
I
Policy Statements:
Immigration and Refugee Policy (Revised 9/07)
Identity Statement (June 1998) (Adopted by the covenanting partners of American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A., June 1998)
Resolutions:
Individual Lifestyle and Ecological Responsibility
Industry and Community (Historic)
International Arms Race (Historic)
International Terrorism (revised 3/05)
International Understanding
Interreligious Prejudice
K
Resolutions:
King (American Baptists and the Legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.) (Revised 3/04)
Ku Klux Klan (Resurgence of the)
L
Resolutions:
Labor
Land Mines (Revised 6/07)
Land Reform (Historic)
Law of the Sea Treaty (In Support of)
Lobby Disclosure
M
Policy Statements:
Metropolitan Ministries
Military and Foreign Policy
Resolutions:
Mass Media
Mental Illness (Revised 6/07)
Middle East and the Arab-Israeli Issues
Migratory Labor
Military Spending
Ministerial Development
Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board (In Support of) (Revised 9/04)
Ministry to Service Men and Women (Revised 3/05)
N
Policy Statement:
Native Americans
Resolutions:
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
National Missile Defense System
Nuclear Power: Seeking Rational Solutions
O
Policy Statement:
Ordained Ministry
Resolution:
Older Americans
P
Policy Statements:
Peace (Revised 6/07)
Primacy of the Local Church
Privileged Communications (Historic)
Resolutions:
Peacekeeping and Peacemaking (Revised 6/07)
Police and Community Relations
Pornography (Against)
Power (Historic)
Prayer (In Support of Historic Baptist Principles Against State Mandated)
Prejudice (Against the Manifestation of)
Public Corruption and Private Morality
Puerto Rico (Self-Determination for)
R
Policy Statement:
Racial Justice
Resolutions:
Racial Segregation and Nonviolent Direct Action
Reconciliation
Religious Liberty Day
Restorative Justice
Rwanda (Revised 3/05)
S
Resolutions:
Self-Determination
Sexual Exploitation of Children (Against the) (Revised 9/04)
Separation of Church and State (Revised 3/05)
Separation of Church and State (Maintaining Principles of)
Slavery
T
Policy Statement:
Tithe (Encouraging the: Growing and Giving in Grace)
Resolutions:
Tax Policy (Revised 3/05)
Tobacco (Promotion and Sale of by U.S. Firms)
Transformation, Reconciliation and Renewal (Historic)
U
Resolutions:
United Nations
United States in World Affairs (Role of the) (Revised 3/05)
V
Policy Statement:
Violence
Resolutions:
Voluntary Service
Voter Registration
Voting Rights Act
W
Resolutions:
War (Abolition of) (Historic)
Wastes (Hazardous, Toxic and Radioactive)
Welfare and Human Services (Revised 9/04)
Women in the American Baptist Churches (Empowerment of)
Women (U.S. Ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against)
World Order
Worship