Let’s face it, it’s rather hard for a congregation to be “removed from fellowship” — that’s Baptist-ese for “kicked out” — from the Southern Baptist Convention.
After all, are we talking about ties being cut to the local association, a state convention (some states, for doctrinal reasons, have more than one) or the various programs linked to the national SBC? Then there are, for extra-conservative or extra-progressive congregations, alternative “fellowship” networks that have their own vague relationships with the larger SBC ship.
Finally, if a church is “removed from fellowship” and any or all of these levels of voluntary association, it may simply become an independent autonomous Baptist church, as opposed to an autonomous SBC church. Most local folks will never know the difference and independent, often nondenominational, congregations are the fastest growing sector of American religious life.
But if you dig into the Google search in my first paragraph, you will see that churches have been pushed out the exit door of SBC life for several reasons and that this is nothing new. However, it is true that these churches are being kicked out for reasons that many (not all) journalists may consider more worthy of coverage than others. Think “politics.”
Consider this summary material from a New York Times piece last year that ran with this headline: “Southern Baptists Expel 2 Churches Over Sex Abuse and 2 for L.G.B.T.Q. Inclusion.”
The Southern Baptist Convention is the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and has been increasingly divided in recent years over a variety of cultural and political issues, including racism, sexuality and white evangelicals’ embrace of former President Donald J. Trump. …
[A]n increasingly influential conservative wing of the denomination accuses those leaders of prioritizing “social justice” over biblical truth. They denounce the encroachment of “critical race theory” — an academic framework intended to capture the deep influence of racism — and accuse the S.B.C.’s national leadership of being out of step with the rank and file.
It’s pretty easy to spot the subjects that would leap into headlines, right?
There is, for example, nothing new about “progressive” Baptist congregations veering to the doctrinal left on issues linked to gender and sexuality. For those with the eyes to see, these trends started in the early 1980s, although churches were much less likely to talk openly about their stances on LGBTQ issues (and the Internet didn’t exist).
In 1979, for example, the Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte (which still had some SBC ties at that time) invited the Rev. Carter Heyward to preach soon after she was one of the first women ordained as an Episcopal priest and she had also just outed herself as a lesbian. (A personal note: I was briefly a member of that congregation a few years after that.)
But let’s leap back to today. I would argue that the most important and newsworthy “removed from fellowship” issues right now are sexual abuse and racial discrimination. However, I wasn’t surprised when readers started asking me about this Associated Press headline and others like it: “Southern Baptists cut ties with LGBTQ-friendly church.”
To be blunt: What is “news” about SBC churches cutting ties with progressive congregations because of clashing doctrines over marriage and sex?
Not much. But, still, that’s the topic that draws the most coverage, because — I guess — that subject is ultra-important to many journalists.
However, I would note that this AP story did — down in the body of the report — note that there are other hot-button issues in SBC life. Read the following carefully:
The committee, in a separate vote, declared that Amazing Grace Community Church of Franklinville, New Jersey, was no longer in friendly cooperation. It cited its “lack of cooperation ... to resolve concerns regarding alleged discriminatory behavior.”
Requests for comment from both congregations via phone and email were not immediately returned.
Since Baptist congregations are self-governing, the denomination can’t force them to follow their policies, but it can effectively expel them by declaring them not in “friendly cooperation” if they don’t conform to denominational stances in particular areas, such as for pro-LGBTQ polices, alleged support for racism or alleged failure in responding adequately to child sexual abuse, such as employing offenders as pastors.
There could be more congregations in the last category in the pipeline. The committee learned that more than 200 referrals had been made to a newly established hotline about alleged mishandling of abuse cases by SBC churches or organizations.
I imagine that the sexual abuse topic will get plenty of ink, as it should. I would, however, be interested in some kind of update on the growing number of Black SBC congregations and how they are relating to other churches at the associational and state levels.
Meanwhile, AP followed this hard-news story with a full-length feature about — you guessed it. The headline: “LGBTQ-friendly church OK with getting Southern Baptist boot.”
Was this shocking news? The story included this interesting piece of background about this progressive North Carolina congregation:
The College Park church found itself in the news last week when the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee voted to remove it from its rolls because of its “open affirmation, approval and endorsement of homosexual behavior.” That action came 23 years after the congregation itself voted to leave the SBC, but according to the Executive Committee, it had remained on its rolls until now.
The story also included a bite of info about the freewheeling nature of SBC polity:
Southern Baptist churches are self-governing, so the convention can’t tell them what to do or believe. But the convention deems churches to be affiliates — in “friendly cooperation” — if they share its beliefs and support its ministries.
The convention “had no record of a request from the (College Park) church to disaffiliate from the SBC,” said a statement Thursday from Linda Cooper, who chairs the SBC’s Credentials Committee. “This church was brought to the attention of the committee. The committee inquired of the church about their desire to disaffiliate and received no response.”
The Credentials Committee then recommended the Executive Committee cut ties with the congregation, which it did. …
The congregation’s website makes clear that College Park is an “LGBTQIA Affirming Baptist Church” that “fully welcomes and affirms all persons without distinction regarding race, ethnicity, national origin, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other human category.”
The Nashville Tennessean, of course, also covered the College Park case: “Southern Baptist Convention breaks with churches over sexuality, alleged discrimination.”
While the word “discrimination” made it into the headline, readers really had to read between the lines that this was another case about claims that a congregation had veered into open racial discrimination. This was all readers learned about that, in this report (let’s hope for follow-up stories on this important topic):
The charge against Amazing Grace in New Jersey was discriminatory behavior on the basis of ethnicity.
Donnie Davis, senior pastor at Amazing Grace, responded to the executive committee’s decision in a statement to The Tennessean on Wednesday morning. “My only response will be this,” said Davis, who then quoted verses in the Bible from John 17: 20-23.
The Bible verses Davis quoted say, “I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word. May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you.”
Was that quote from a telephone call? An email exchange? A simple text message? Just asking.
Frankly, I am more interested in that topic, as opposed to more one-side features about sexuality issues that have been around for decades. How many complaints does the SBC Credentials Committee heard about issues linked to race?
FIRST IMAGE: Exit sign for sale at the homepage of the American Sign Company.