LYNCHBURG, Va. — A key committee has asked a Richmond congregation to withdraw its Baptist General Association of Virginia membership in the wake of the church’s Sept. 16 ordination to the ministry of an openly gay man.
If Ginter Park Baptist Church declines to withdraw by Dec. 31, the BGAV will no longer accept its financial contributions, the Virginia Baptist Mission Board’s executive committee says in a letter to the church. Since contributions to BGAV ministries are necessary for membership, that action would essentially end the church’s 96-year affiliation with the state association.
The nearly century-old Ginter Park Baptist Church was organized on Richmond's Northside in 1916.
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The executive committee reported its request Oct. 10 at the end of the Mission Board’s fall meeting at Eagle Eyrie Baptist Conference Center near Lynchburg, Va.
“The letter states that the executive committee requests the church to withdraw by Dec. 31 with the understanding that if it does not, the BGAV will no longer receive funds from the church and messengers will not be seated at future annual meetings of the BGAV,” board chairman Mark Croston said. “The committee thought this was the best way to go. It keeps us in line with previous BGAV resolutions on homosexuality.”
Mission Board executive director John Upton said “four or five” conversations had been held both before and after the ordination between BGAV and Ginter Park leaders.
A motion by Mission Board member Bernard Henderson Jr. asking the executive committee to rescind its action failed by a vote of 8 to 40, but not before prompting wide-ranging discussion. Comments circled around Baptist principles such as the autonomy of local churches and the priesthood of the believer, on the one hand, and the need to take a clear stand against homosexuality and practical ramifications of failing to dismiss the church, on the other.
“I believe that this action of the executive committee is unjust,” said Henderson, a member of Grace Baptist Church in Richmond. “I think at best it is premature. You have not asked that church why it felt they should do this. I’m not a Baptist by birth and maybe that explains why I feel differently, but I’m a Baptist by choice because I believe in the autonomy of the church and the priesthood of believers. Even if you don’t agree with the church it has the right to be wrong.”
Henderson added there is “no provision in our bylaws to do this. It’s making up the law as you go along. The executive committee has gone quite too far.”
Pat Ellis, a member of First Baptist Church in Alexandria, Va., said he supported the motion to rescind although “I personally am opposed to the gay lifestyle.”
“Where do we draw the line?” Ellis asked. “If we exclude Ginter Park, then what’s the next step? Will we disavow another church? It’s a local church matter and we need to respect it.”
But Keith Williams, pastor of Falling River Baptist Church in Brookneal, Va., said church autonomy was not the issue at stake.
“It’s absurd to say church autonomy means we do not have the right or business to make any judgment on any church which wants to call itself Virginia Baptist,” Williams said. “If you take that to its logical conclusion it can go anywhere. It’s not a question of whether to draw the line but where to draw the line.
“Let’s not pretend the issue of homosexuality is in the same category as women in ministry or race relations, as it’s often compared to,” he added. “It boils down to whether this is a red line or not. If it’s not, there will be some consequences. Let’s not pretend it won’t be taken as an affirmation [of homosexuality].”
Lonnie Hines, a retired communications technician, warned that other churches would leave the BGAV for another state convention if a clear stand wasn’t taken.
“I totally support what the executive committee has done,” said Hines, a member of Sandy Ridge Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, Va. “If no action is taken, there’s another group, the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia, that will take 90 percent of our churches and we will not be the BGAV anymore.”
This would be the first time the BGAV has dismissed a church over homosexuality, but it has addressed the issue in the past. A 1993 resolution called homosexual behavior “sinful and unacceptable to Christians” and that statement is typically included in the state association’s identity documents. A report from the BGAV’s Christian life committee which drew the same conclusion was “commended to the churches” in 1998.
The BGAV’s ties to both the University of Richmond and Averett University were ended over homosexuality, though Averett’s association was restored last year when the school clarified its stance in a way the BGAV regarded as compatible with its position.
Ginter Park Baptist Church was organized in 1916 on Richmond’s Northside and is also affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Alliance of Baptists. Another affiliation — the Richmond Baptist Association — may be challenged at the RBA’s fall meeting Oct. 21.
The man ordained Sept. 16, Brandon Scott McGuire, is not on the ministerial staff of the church. He reportedly feels called to minister to persons with disabilities and special needs and to their families, and sought ordination in preparation for that role.
In an email Oct. 10, Vickie Hall, the church’s moderator, and deacon chair Raymond Cady declined to comment on the executive committee’s action until the church had received the committee’s letter.
Robert Dilday ([email protected]) is managing editor of the Religious Herald.