If you think self-described Christian institutions are immune from wokeness, you need to think again.
In a news release Monday, Baylor University in Waco, Texas, announced its Center for Church and Community Impact, or “C3I,” has received $644,000 from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation “to help foster inclusion and belonging in the church.”
The release said, “Through academic research, this grant will help us better understand the disenfranchisement and exclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals and women within congregations to nurture institutional courage and foster change.
“Many LGBTQIA+ individuals and women experience what researchers call ‘institutional betrayal’ within their faith communities – situations where the institutions they depend on for spiritual support fail to protect them or even actively harm them,” the release added. “This might involve exclusion from church activities, family estrangement and painful conflicts that leave lasting emotional wounds.”
C3I Director Gaynor Yancey commented on the grant and research prospects, saying, “This grant will focus on the lived experiences of emerging adults. It will assist us in filling out the bigger picture of congregations’ practices that result in an environment of belonging.
“Through our research, we want to expand our picture of what congregations do and do not do in their caring practices with all people about their experiences of belonging,” the official continued.
The aim will be interviews, focus groups, and surveys “to facilitate a deeper understanding of their lived experiences with congregations.” The findings will “directly inform trauma-sensitive training resources that C3I will develop for congregational use, providing guidance on inclusivity and institutional courage.”
Despite the grant not going toward any actual work to those ends just yet, there’s plenty to be worried about here based on the language of the news release alone.
“Lived experiences,” talk of institutional change, “inclusion,” prospects for training courses — it’s all here.
Good Faith Media reported on the release Monday and posted the article to X, prompting a response from Bart Barber, a Texas pastor and the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
“EVERYONE is included in the church on exactly the same terms: Turn away from your sinful life, place your faith in Jesus, and confess Him as your Lord — your boss over everything. Fostering ‘inclusion’ under any other terms is BAD news, not the good news.”
EVERYONE is included in the church on exactly the same terms: Turn away from your sinful life, place your faith in Jesus, and confess Him as your Lord—your boss over everything.
Fostering “inclusion” under any other terms is BAD news, not the good news.https://t.co/WvsB2fcOHZ
— Bart Barber (@bartbarber) July 2, 2025
In response to a parent of a would-be Baylor student who became disillusioned with the school upon visiting, Acton Institute research fellow Anthony Bradley commented, “Baylor is no longer a Christian college. This quite a shift.”
Baylor is no longer a Christian college. This quite a shift. It’s now as Baptist as Princeton is Presbyterian. Interesting times. . . Thoughts. https://t.co/92e268xF1h
— Anthony Bradley (@drantbradley) July 3, 2025
Daily Wire reporter Megan Basham posted a thread showing how Baylor started their woke trajectory years ago.
“They made themselves beholden to this Left Wing org long ago,” Basham posted with her thread detailing the history of the school with the left-wing Baugh Foundation.
So now that the progressive Baugh Foundation has granted Baylor nearly 3 quarters of a million dollars to promote LGBTQ inclusivity, it’s worth looking at why Baylor would take this step sure to anger MANY Christian families who send their kids to school there.
Fact is, they… pic.twitter.com/VDDQu95Eaj
— Megan Basham (@megbasham) July 3, 2025
Imagine if the church tried to foster a sense of belonging and promoted institutional change to countenance the behaviors of alcoholics, drug abusers, or thieves.
To be sure, Christ said in Mark 12:31, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But this does not mean you — upon joining the church — change the church for your own sake to coddle your own sins. The church, and Christ himself, changes you.
It sounds like Baylor as a “Christian” institution has that backwards.
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