WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) -- A Baptist congregation is severing ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, in part over the denomination's decision to proselyte Jews and Mormons.
The split comes after years of unhappiness over the denomination's increasingly conservative policies.Members of Wake Forest Baptist Church voted in January to end its affiliation with the convention, but the congregation didn't make the vote public until Tuesday due to recent publicity over its endorsement of same-sex ceremonies.
"We wanted the community to know where we stand," said the Rev. Richard Groves, the pastor of the congregation that meets on the Wake Forest University campus but is independent of the school.
Only one member voted against the split when about 100 of the 325-member congregation voted, Groves said.