Southern Baptists set doctrine policy for foreign missionaries

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- Trustees of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention have decided new employees must work ''in accordance and not contrary to'' the denomination's newly revised doctrinal statement.

A new version of the ''Baptist Faith and Message'' statement was approved last June in line with the denomination's increasingly conservative policies, including opposition to women as pastors.

The leaders of the largest U.S. agency of its kind, with 5,000 foreign missionaries, stated their own ''wholehearted'' endorsement of the new doctrine. But the trustees did not require new appointees to pledge personal agreement with it. They also did not require current employees to adhere to the policy.