More than 100 members of the Alliance of Baptists signed a letter at the group’s annual meeting last week voicing solidarity for a sister church in Brazil taking heat after voting to open its membership to gays and lesbians.
In what may be a first for Baptists in the country, Pinheiro Baptist Church in Maceio, Brazil, voted overwhelmingly Feb. 28 to receive members regardless of sexual orientation through baptism, transfer of membership and acclamation.
“In this way, the members present courageously decided in a historical manner that any person who confesses Jesus of Nazarene as Savior of their life, independent of their social, economic and sexual condition, will be accepted formally to membership in the church,” Pastor Wellington Santos said in a letter translated from Portuguese dated March 4.
Odja Barros (left) with translator Debbie Pierce. Pierce grew up in Brazil, where her parents served as missionaries for 32 years. (BNG Photo/Bob Allen)
Odja Barros, co-pastor of the church in Maceio and immediate past president of the Alliance of Baptists in Brazil, sought prayer for the congregation during a panel presentation on courage and hope at the 2016 Alliance of Baptists annual gathering April 8-10 at Kirkwood Baptist Church in St. Louis.
Barros, who has been a pastor for 20 years, said in its early years Pinheiro Baptist Church won respect from the local Baptist community for its work with the poor in northeast Brazil. That has changed since the recent vote she said, with some of the critics pointing out it shouldn’t be too surprising to see theological error from a church with a woman serving as pastor.
“I have become Eve in the story,” she joked about the backlash.
The letter from Santos credited Barros with leadership in the decision — which was 10 years in the making — for writing, preaching and teaching at the invitation of the church board of directors “demonstrating balance, respect, impartiality and obedience to God drawing out our people on various occasions with the open Bible and a face drenched in tears.”
The letter from St. Louis handwritten and later typed by the Brazil Partnership Community led by Alliance member David Gooch was signed by 109 Alliance of Baptists members committing to pray for members of Pinheiro Baptist Church “as you face both the opportunities and challenges linked to your decision” and support them personally when able.
“We are grateful to God for your prophetic and just step,” the letter said. “We know that there may be the pain of broken relationships ahead and we pray for you. But we know as well the joy of opening our doors more fully. Take heart, for we have experienced this joy, of embracing the gifts of all.”
The Alliance of Baptists in Brazil was begun in 2005 by about 60 Baptists who fell out of favor with the Brazilian Baptist Convention because of their socially progressive views. The group organized as a “fraternal partner” with the Alliance of Baptists, a U.S.-based group formed over similar pressure points in the Southern Baptist Convention in 1987.
Same-sex marriage is legal in Brazil, but, similar to the United States, much of the opposition to LGBT equality comes from politicians who identify as evangelical Christians. The U.S. Alliance of Baptists came out in support of same-sex marriage in 2004 and considered moving next year’s meeting out of North Carolina to protest the state’s controversial transgender bathroom bill but ultimately decided to go to Raleigh as a public witness.
Santos said the Brazilian church’s conversation about homosexuality goes back 10 years, when a member of the congregation declared his sexual orientation — “creating at that time discomfort for some and a challenge for others who beginning at that moment started to consider in prayer this issue in a more didactic and pedagogic manner.”
“During these 10 years we were absolute in not deviating from the Bible, for it continues to be our rule of faith and practice,” Santos described the process. “We dove as deep as we could exegetically and hermeneutically in search of a consensus that would bring peace to the hearts at the time of decision.”
Santos said the congregation “did not ignore divergent opinions,” believing “that in God’s Holy Spirit’s right time ideas, eyes and hearts would be open in order to exert the real meaning of the debate.”
He said some members who disagreed with the direction the church was moving left “in a respectful and peaceful manner without provoking dissentions and difficulties for the community of faith.”
Santos closed the letter with a reference to Paul’s introduction to 1 Corinthians 13 “and yet I will show you the most excellent way.”
“I believe that last Sunday’s decision points the direction for a community of faith called Baptist Church of Pinheiro, that vows to continue following what is, in a radical way and a more excellent way, that which is the way of love,” Santos said.
“We may err, and we will make mistakes, we are human and imperfect,” he continued. “However, my prayer is that our mistakes will always be in an insistent attempt to be each time more with the proposal for life and grace that was begun by and lived in all Jesus of Nazarene’s ministry.”