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Unlike meetings of the past, when cultural issues such as affirming gay Christians morphed into high-profile, heated debates, this year's Baptist State Convention of North Carolina will focus on the future of the convention itself.

Several of its banner institutions, including colleges, retirement homes and even its women's missions, are severing traditional ties with the 1.2 million-member convention, the largest religious group in the state.

"The fear of being controlled is what's driving these institutions to take these unusual steps of changing their relationships," said the Rev. David Hughes of First Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, a moderate in the largely conservative group that will convene in Greensboro on Monday.

The delegates, called messengers, will be asked to consider proposals that would allow the groups to continue to have a relationship — and perhaps continue to share, on a reduced scale, money given to the convention by its member churches. Because these are longtime Baptist institutions, the debate is likely to be heated.

"I really see more of a parallel of what happens in a family rather than strife in a denomination," the Rev. David Horton, a past state president and the pastor of Gate City Baptist Church in Greensboro, said of the colleges' situation.

"It's kind of like a child that gets old enough to branch out on their own," said Horton, part of the convention's conservative majority. "Once that happens, that's a good thing. You celebrate the fact that you helped launch them and give them direction."

The bigger question may rest on whether the convention remains viable.

"While Southern Baptists and North Carolina Baptists have been fighting over ideas and institutions for 30 years, the rest of the church in America has been going in different directions away from denominational systems," says Baptist historian Bill Leonard, dean of divinity at Wake Forest University.

In recent years, much of the conflict in the convention has been between moderates and conservatives, and the group's relationship with the Southern Baptist Convention, which doesn't allow moderates to serve on committees. Conservatives have long maintained top leadership positions at the convention and essentially oversee hiring and spending.

One of the bigger issues this year involves the Woman's Missionary Union of North Carolina, the historic women's mission organization in Baptist life. Until now, it has operated with complete autonomy while also receiving significant funds from the convention and the annual state missions offering.

But the state convention wants veto power over WMU employment decisions. And the WMU has chosen to vacate the state convention offices where it has enjoyed free rent and utilities. Now, the recommendation from the executive committee of the Baptist State Convention is that WMU be stripped of monetary support, except for an offering it could hold on its own.

"We tried over 16 months … and we never could come up with any other solution other than they said it had to be that way and WMU said no," said Ruby Fulbright, WMU's executive director-treasurer. "If we give that up, we give up our autonomy. WMU decided maybe we should move our office and assume all our responsibilities, our payroll and our benefits."

Similar control issues have strained relations with Baptist-funded colleges, which have voted to name their own boards. Currently, trustees must be approved by a nominating committee of the convention, which requires them to be Baptist and, for the most part, residents of North Carolina. The colleges say that limits the pool for ethnic and geographic diversity.

Baptist money represents a tiny percentage of the schools' budgets, but it's mostly used for student scholarships at Campbell, Chowan, Gardner-Webb, Mars Hill and Wingate.

Messengers also will consider a recommendation not to seek legal action over the loss of Baptist Retirement Homes. The nonprofit agency's bylaws once gave the convention control over naming trustees, but in 2005 the agency decided to name its own.

This convention will focus on a way to continue to relate to these institutions in the 21st century, said Larry Doyle, missions director of the Piedmont Baptist Association.

"I really hope we can get beyond that and keep our focus on the mission, on the purpose why we are here," Doyle said, "and that's to help churches engage their communities and impact their communities with the gospel and God's love."

Contact Nancy H. McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nmclaughlin@news-record.com