OWENSBORO, Ky. (ABP) – A Baptist church kicked out of its association for allowing a gay-rights group to meet in its building has launched a national fundraising campaign to prevent having to close its doors.
Bob Coons, pastor of Journey Fellowship in Owensboro, Ky., said the Aug. 5 ouster from Daviess-McLean Baptist Association hurt the re-launch of the former Seven Hills Baptist Church financially. Already operating on a shoestring budget, Coons said the church has lost about $75,000 as members left or withdrew support because of the controversy.
Now facing the prospect of closing its doors, the struggling congregation has launched Shine the Light (of God’s Unconditional Love) seeking support of groups and individuals beyond the community that support its “mission of inclusiveness.”
Journey Fellowship’s slogan of “Welcoming All — Judging None” was tested when association officials learned that a local chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays met on the premises once a month.
A letter from the association’s credentials committee demanded that the church “immediately disassociate its affiliation with PFLAG” and “no longer allow the group to meet” in the facility. Journey Fellowship refused, and the association responded by voting 242-24 to remove the church for being “disorderly in conduct and unorthodox in belief.”
The Shine the Light campaign seeks to raise $85,000 during the first three months, with an additional long-term goal of $150,000 in commitments and pledges over the next three years as the church rebuild its membership. In addition to keeping the church in operation and the doors open, the funds will allow continuation of mission projects like a food pantry, soup kitchen, a community garden, a clothing closet, a weekend backpack food program for elementary students, afterschool study hall and building projects like picnic tables and handicap ramps. A “Magi Project” program that allows local underprivileged children to shop for Christmas presents for their family members has already been canceled for this year due to lack of financial support.
Along with fundraising support, a second goal of the campaign is to draw attention to “continued religious discrimination against the Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender community and to support and continue the practice of ‘radical unconditional acceptance’ of all of God’s people.”
Journey Fellowship took a public stand in June welcoming people “regardless of age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, possessions, education, mental ability or physical ability.”
The church website lists “ministry partners” including the Alliance of Baptists and Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists. Both support full inclusion of gays in church and society.
Another is the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which has a policy against hiring gay employees or missionaries but leaves the matter of how congregations respond to the issue up to the local church.
The church has disassociated its former affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention, which bans churches that “act to affirm, approve, endorse, promote, support or bless homosexual behavior."
Journey Fellowship has already received some financial support from individuals and organizations as far away as Washington, D.C., but needs $10,000 in immediate relief to keep the lights on after the first of the year, according to a news release.
Information about how to give is available at the church website.
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Bob Allen is managing editor of Associated Baptist Press.