RICHMOND — Ginter Park Baptist Church has declined a request to withdraw membership from the Baptist General Association of Virginia following the Richmond congregation’s ordination of an openly gay man to the ministry this fall.
The church’s official response brings to a close a three-month disagreement with the BGAV over the Sept. 16 ordination. Ginter Park’s 96-year-old affiliation with the state association will end Dec. 31.
The dismissal has led another Richmond congregation — Grace Baptist Church — to withhold its financial contributions to the BGAV and has prompted the resignation of a member of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board’s governing body.
Ginter Park Baptist Church's affiliation with the BGAV will end on Dec. 31.
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In October, the Mission Board’s executive committee asked Ginter Park to withdraw by the end of the year, saying the ordination put the church at odds with the BGAV’s position on homosexuality. If it did not withdraw voluntarily, the executive committee said, the BGAV would no longer accept the church’s financial contributions after Dec. 31, essentially ending its affiliation.
The Mission Board refused on Oct. 10 to overrule the executive committee’s action by a vote of 8-40, and at the BGAV’s annual meeting in November, a motion to study the issue for year failed by 164-426.
In its response, Ginter Park acknowledged the withdrawal request but having “no desire to sever ourselves from Virginia Baptists, we respectfully decline to do so.”
“We understand that, through the action of the executive committee, affirmed by a vote of the Baptist General Association of Virginia …, this will result in the disassociation of our congregation from the BGAV as of Dec. 31, 2012. We regretfully acknowledge the decision of the executive committee and the BGAV.”
It added: “We are genuinely saddened by this loss of fellowship and pray that, in some future day, these issues will no longer divide us.”
The statement was adopted in a church business meeting Dec. 12, but was released publicly Dec. 17. Raymond Cady, Ginter Park’s deacon chair and a trustee, said it was first sent to Mark Croston, who completed a term as BGAV president in November, and BGAV executive director John Upton.
Signing the official response were Cady, as both deacon chair and trustee, moderator Victoria Hall, and trustees Mark Hodges and Paul Irwin Jr.
Ginter Park called a new pastor Dec. 2, but she won’t begin until Jan. 27. Mandy England Cole has been associate pastor of Sardis Baptist Church in Charlotte.
In a Dec. 17 email, Upton said, “The past president, Mark Croston, and the current president, Carl W. Johnson, and I appreciate the cordial response of Ginter Park Baptist Church to the letter sent them dated Oct. 10, 2012 and congratulate them in the calling of their new pastor.â€
Meanwhile, the 180-year-old Grace Baptist Church in Richmond voted at the end of October to “impound” remaining funds appropriated in 2012 to the BGAV and asked its Missions Commission to recommend an alternative “use of such funds for missions purposes” in 2013.
A letter from the church to Upton, and copied to the Religious Herald, noted the BGAV’s constitution emphasized it is to carry out ministries while “not infringing the rights of individuals and churches” and giving “full recognition of the autonomy of the local churches.”
“The action taken by the BGAV executive committee and effectively sustained by the Virginia Baptist Mission Board … stands in abject violation of the letter and spirit of the historical purpose and current constitution of the association as described in the association’s own words,” wrote Sallie Martin Cross, the church’s moderator.
“Should the Baptist General Association of Virginia reverse its decision to exclude Ginter Park Baptist Church from being eligible for membership, our church will expeditiously consider restoring our contribution, but until that happens, we will not contribute to or participate in the BGAV.”
In related action, Bernard Henderson said he has resigned his position on the Mission Board’s governing body as well as on the BGAV’s resolution committee. Henderson, who serves as deacon chair at Grace, said he took in the action to protest the dismissal of Ginter Park.
Robert Dilday ([email protected]) is managing editor of the Religious Herald.
Related stories:
Virginia Baptist committee asks Richmond church to end affiliation after ordination of gay man
Richmond Baptist Association creates task force to study ordination of gay man by affiliated church
BGAV upholds committee action to dismiss church over ordination of openly-gay man