Posted on 01/17/2007 7:26:10 AM PST by Between the Lines
PLAINS, Ga. (ABP) -- Former First Lady Rosalynn Smith Carter was ordained as a deacon Dec. 10 by Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga. Though raised a Methodist, Carter, 79, has been active in Baptist congregations since her marriage more than 60 years ago to former President Jimmy Carter, a longtime Baptist deacon.
“She is very shy and doesn’t like the spotlight,” said Maranatha pastor Jeff Summers. “But people have seen her leadership and compassion.” Carter is often involved in behind-the-scenes ministries, such as working with children and delivering meals to the homebound, he added.
Maranatha is among a growing number of Baptist congregations to include women as deacons, a role noted for its service to church and community. The Carters are well known for their involvement in the small, rural congregation that welcomes thousands of worldwide visitors each year to attend the Sunday school class taught by President Carter.
Rosalynn Carter is the second woman elected as a deacon at Maranatha. The first was Sue Askerzada in 2003. In December 2005, Jessica Summers, a graduate of Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology who assists her husband with the church’s ministries, became the first woman ordained to ministry by the church.
Carter was not immediately available for an interview.
The issue of women in church leadership continues to be debated among many Baptists. Most churches aligned with the Southern Baptist Convention do not ordain women as ministers or deacons.
No count of Baptist women deacons is available. Roughly 1,600 Baptist women in the southern United States have been ordained to the ministry, according to a report released by Baptist Women in Ministry. The study reviewed women in churches affiliated with the Alliance of Baptists, the Baptist General Association of Virginia, the Baptist General Convention of Texas, or the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
The Southern Baptist Convention revised its Baptist Faith and Message doctrinal statement in 2000 to include stated opposition to women as pastors. Some related agencies and associations have expanded that restriction to apply to female chaplains and, in one case, to a church’s associate pastor.
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and American Baptist Churches, USA, have more affirming positions on women in church leadership. However, Baptist polity, particularly the concept of local church autonomy, gives each congregation the freedom to call out and ordain its ministers and deacons without interference from any other church body.
While this news seemed irrelevant last month when it happened, since the Clinton/Carter announcement it has become noteworthy.
Baptist ping
The Maranatha Baptist Church must have voted
b'shem Y'shua
and decided that the Holy Word of G-d is optional.
I don't like it at all! Deacon's should be men. Of course I've always attended churches affiliated with SBC and my father was a deacon of a large Baptist church in Houston. Maybe that's why I dislike the idea of women being deacons.
what you mentioned on the other thread is even more interesting after reading this
I dislike it because it is not authorized or in any way supported in Scripture.
How do they support this with scripture?
How do they support this with scripture?
I suppose the same way they support abortion and homosexuality.
The same way that any denomination supports non-Scriptural doctrines. They don't.
Red letter Christianity. If it ain't written in red, it ain't important.
Scripture is a "living" document just like the Constitution!
What church is this again? Icabod Baptist Church of Plains, GA?
Anyone remember when Rosalyn Carter told us that Larry Flynt (Hustler Magazine) was saved as a result of her prayers?
I hear yall but Baptists plan their doctrine according to scripture.
I would agree with you for the most part, but not in this case. There is no legitimate way to support women being deacons using the Bible.
IIRC, that was Ruth Carter Stapleton (Jimmy's sister), not Rosalyn.
They may have kept the name but this isn't a "Baptist" church IMO.
Lest we forget Fred Phelps "claims" to be a baptist.
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