Posted on 07/13/2003 1:43:26 PM PDT by nwrep
Jim Patterson
Associated Press
July 05, 2003 2:12 a.m.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. The sermon at Glendale Baptist Church one recent Sunday recalled how Jesus mingled with tax collectors and prostitutes, refusing to snub people for the unpopular things they did.
"What does it mean that God's love is for everyone?" preached Glendale member Eileen Campbell-Reed, a doctoral student in religion.
"What will happen when we move from the center to the margins, and make friends . . . with those that our society smugly thinks of as the disinherited and marginalized? What will happen when they become our heroes and heroines of friendship and faithfulness, forgiveness and grace?"
These were not rhetorical questions.
Listening in the front row in her black sacramental robe was April Baker an unlikely combination of lesbian living openly with a partner and associate pastor of a Baptist church in the South.
Glendale's half-century associations with the Tennessee Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention have been dissolved over the past month because of Baker.
Baptist officials said the church's choice to support Baker, currently its only full-time minister, left them with no choice.
"In having a homosexual or lesbian minister, they are clearly endorsing homosexual behavior, and thus have defined themselves outside of the Southern Baptist Convention," said Richard Land, president of the SBC's public policy arm.
Glendale's 250-member congregation long ago forged bonds with more liberal Baptist umbrella organizations, including the Alliance of Baptists, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America.
But the church had belonged to the SBC and TBC since its founding in 1951. The loss of tradition hurts, as does the rejection, members of the congregation say.
At the Sunday service in a simple sanctuary decorated with homemade banners and mobiles of paper birds were a diverse mix of members elderly people, a city councilman, a teenager with a mohawk and several children in Tennessee Titans jerseys.
Glendale has long been known as a liberal church, but not one that particularly caters to gays.
When the search process for an associate pastor turned up two of three candidates who disclosed they were lesbians, church leaders took the matter to the congregation. It decided to pick the best candidate for the job, regardless of sexual orientation.
Since hiring Baker last summer, the church has drawn unwanted attention from a local conservative talk radio show and pickets one Sunday by an anti-gay group.
Stewart Clifton, a lay leader, said Glendale wasn't out to court controversy.
"It's something we kind of fell into step by step," he said. "You don't ask people to apply, and based on something they have no control over, then say, 'Sorry, some extraneous thing is going to disqualify you.' "
Glendale bills itself as "A Caring Community of Equality and Grace." In the early 1970s, the church supported the desegregation of Nashville public schools and lost a large part of its membership.
Nationally, conservatives overpowered moderates and liberals to take over Southern Baptist leadership two decades ago. Since 1988 the denomination has severed ties with more than 10 other congregations over the issue of homosexuality.
"Not many Baptist churches moderate, fundamentalist or otherwise have openly lesbian staff members," said Bill Turner, a retired Baptist minister who headed the prominent South Main Baptist Church in Houston for 16 years. "Sexual identity is an issue that's been effectively dodged for some years. Even in moderate churches, there's usually a 'love the sinner, hate the sin' mind-set."
At the SBC's annual meeting in Phoenix last month, leaders proclaimed an initiative to help homosexuals "find freedom from this sinful, destructive lifestyle."
Baker, a 39-year-old graduate of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., has worked as a counselor to women felons but never before held a minister's job.
She becomes visibly uncomfortable when asked about the controversy over her sexual orientation. She frowns and pauses several moments to gather her thoughts.
She says the denomination has "terribly wounded" gay people.
"I say that the Southern Baptist Convention left me, because the SBC as it is today is not the same spiritual and theological home in which I grew up," Baker said. "I think that there's a distinct call to the church to push the edges of inclusiveness."
When Kreis White's family was considering whether to join Glendale, he was told about Baker's sexual orientation. He didn't see it as relevant.
"My kids got to help in the soup kitchen yesterday, and Habitat for Humanity is a blast. The activism is what attracted me," he said.
Baker's sexual orientation is "such a small fraction of who she is," White said.
"She is also a Braves fan, which I find horribly compelling. She is a gifted speaker, a great pulpit speaker. She is a very spiritual leader for the kids."
Huh?
Can anyone name any SBC church in the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, or 80's that had a lesbian pastor?
Sorry chick, but the SBC didn't leave you, you have chosen to flaunt your sin, and true Christians call upon you to repent.
Glad to hear you quit. (I quit about 3 days after accepting Christ), but when you were born, who lit your smokes. :)
If you want to refute her statement, you'd do better to point to the Great Schism.
There were always other groups like the anabaptists that rejected the Roman Pope and Catholic hierarchy. Below is an excerpt of non-catholic church history from the following link. Church History
During all this time of the rise and development of false doctrines and practice in the churches, there were scattered through Europe, Asia, and Africa, groups of dissenting churches which refused to acknowledge the Roman pope and sought to follow the New Testament. Some early groups were the Montanists, Novatians, and Donatists. Later groups included the Petrobrusians, Waldensees, and Anabaptists. Catholic historians call most of these sects "Anabaptists". They were mercilessly persecuted throughout the centuries until after the Reformation, and some persecution against them has continued to modern times.
Though these groups did not carry the name "Baptists", many of them did hold various Baptist tenents, such as separation of church and state, spiritual democracy, salvation by grace apart from sacraments, believers' baptism, and immersion as the mode of baptism. churches holding these truths cherished New Testament principles. They shared with Baptists the desire to follow Christ's will for His churches.
When the Reformation came, numerous new non-Catholic groups appeared. Some of them became the large Protestant denominations of today. They all rejected many of the heresies of the Roman Catholic Church, but most of them retained some teachings which had no foundation in the New Testament. In the centuries since the Reformation, other denominations have been formed until there are now hundreds of separate denominational organizations. Some of them have departed far from using the New Testament as their only rule of faith and practice.
It didn't go on for long. The Southern Baptists kicked them out as quick as they heard about it and confronted them about it. But I know what you mean, you'd like to think a Southern Baptist church couldn't sink so low.
Before telling the story of how the Mennonite Church began, it is necessary to enumerate a number of false theories of its origin. Some historians have imagined a connection between the radical Zwickau Prophets or the fanatical Thomas Muenzer and the founders of the Mennonite Church. But for this supposed connection there is not historical foundation. Other historians have gone astray in seeking to account for the rise of the Mennonite Church by interpreting the movement as a revolt of the lower classes. This social-economic theory is also unsupported by the facts. Indeed the chief founder of the Mennonite Church was the university-trained son of a rich family. The early leaders of the church did not preach social revolt; they proclaimed repentance and baptism. Another unsound theory is that the movement arose under the influence of Catholic monastic orders. A much less harmless theory but one that is also without historical support is that of Apostolic succession. According the this theory there has been a continuity of organization in small groups outside the Catholic church from A.D. 30 to 1525. Actually these non-Catholic groups differed widely from each other; all held some heretical views and in many cases had no connection with each other. Finally, there have been those who thought that the Mennonite Church was of Waldensian origin. Actually the Waldenses disappeared in Switzerland a century before the rise of the Anabaptist movement. (from The Anabaptist Story, William R. Estep, 1975)
And I am glad to see the Southern Baptists take action in this case, BTW. Someone who is going to be a pastor should at least subscribe to the basic beliefs of the church or denomination they supposedly belong to.
We are all sinners, but we also must repent of our sins.
When Kreis White's family was considering whether to join Glendale, he was told about Baker's sexual orientation. He didn't see it as relevant. "My kids got to help in the soup kitchen yesterday, and Habitat for Humanity is a blast. The activism is what attracted me," he said. Baker's sexual orientation is "such a small fraction of who she is," White said. "She is also a Braves fan, which I find horribly compelling. She is a gifted speaker, a great pulpit speaker. She is a very spiritual leader for the kids."Inclusiveness? Activism? How about simply preaching the Word of God? And a lesbian in the pulpit? No thanks! I am so glad the SBC and TBC handled this situation quickly. That is one women's retreat I would NEVER attend! :( I hope a good SBC affiliated church is there to receive the refugees.
I agree, but there really isn't a central doctrine that members of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) are required to adhere to. I believe the SBC does require employees to sign a statement of faith, but individual churches may or may not.
It's a kinda weird system, but each church is independant and does not answer to the SBC.
In my opinion, not having a centralized dogma handed down from on high is both one of the greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses of being a Baptist. The typical small Southern Baptist congregation changes pastors every two years or less. Since there is no centralized dogma that every pastor is required to adhere to, the congregation tends to get a rather wide selection of views on the Bible over the years.
Most of the churches that I have attended would probably be called "Fundamentalist" congregations. They each chose pastors who were either basically conservative in perspective or smart enough to not let on that they weren't.
That doesn't mean they each taught every Scripture from the same perspective. There are a number of passages that can be approached from different perspectives. Growing up Southern Baptist taught me to respect other's opinions even if I don't agree with them.
On the other hand, it also means that you can't judge a church by the sign out front. I've been pretty shocked a few times by folks who claim the title "SBC" but share virtually nothing in common with my conservative upbringing.
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