Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

To: sr4402
"They should look at the PCUSA and Episcopal denomination and what happened after they did this."

The difference is that Baptist churches are each autonomous and independent. These women pastors are not pushed on any local church by a denominational structure. Local Baptist churches select their own pastors, so this is a local church problem.

There is no Baptist denominational structure that ordains ministers; rather each local church calls for the ordination of its ministers, and votes up or down according to the recommendation of an ordination council invited by the local congregation to sit as a council.

Any Baptist congregation can elect to/not to fellowship with or cooperate with any other local congregation for any reason it considers proper. Therefore, no congregation is required to fellowship/cooperate with a congregation that has a female "pastor."

If a state convention or the national convention elects to seat messengers from churches which have female pastors, a Bible-believing church can just decline to send messengers, using its autonomy. The church deciding not to send messengers can also withhold financial support from the state and/or national organization(s).

And through it all, the local Bible-believing Baptist church is still a Baptist church.

Thousands of denominationally-connected Baptist churches, especially from 1945 to to 1970, ceased supporting denominational programs (Southern Baptist; American Baptist; others) and began supporting missionary projects on an individual basis.

After WWII, many Baptist missionary clearing houses sprung up around the USA for missionary activity outside of the denominational structures.

Better yet, especially from 1980, very many local Baptist churches themselves began to function as the clearing houses of missionary families sent from those churches, and from sister churches in close fellowship and cooperation.

Some of the very best pastor and missionary training schools today are operated by single independent Baptist churches, where the "President" or "Chancellor" of the school is the local church pastor himself.

So, rather than Baptists looking at what happened to Presbyterian and Episcopal denominations---that is, the consequences of making women pastors and deacons, . . . .

. . . . . the denominations should look to many Baptists who still maintain the distinctive of local church autonomy; and establish more independent Presbyterian churches and independent Episcopal congregations.

14 posted on 07/03/2011 1:21:23 PM PDT by John Leland 1789 (Grateful.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies ]


To: John Leland 1789; sr4402

That’s not quite correct — all should learn from the mistakes of the PCUSA and ECUSA for getting pastoresses and then lesbian pastoresses. The SBC should learn from this and not allow this to happen, or it will go down the same route. passing the buck by saying the presbyterians should follow the baptist method is neither here not there


16 posted on 07/03/2011 3:59:20 PM PDT by Cronos ( W Szczebrzeszynie chrzaszcz brzmi w trzcinie I Szczebrzeszyn z tego slynie.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson