The re-elected leader of American Baptists says his denomination's divide over homosexuality “tears my soul.”
“I tell you from the bottom of my heart that this rupture tears my soul, and that I pledge before you, by God's grace, that I will do everything in my power to promote the spirit of unity in the bond of peace,” said A. Roy Medley, who was re-elected general secretary Nov 17.
His remarks referred in particular to a September decision by the American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest to begin the process of withdrawing from the 1.5 million-member denomination.
Leaders of the Pacific Southwest region were among those who had said the denomination had not enforced a 1992 resolution that states “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.”
Robert Roberts, another American Baptist leader, read Medley's remarks at the meeting of the General Board of the American Baptist Churches USA in Green Lake, Wis., because illness prevented Medley from attending in person.
At that same meeting, the board voted Nov. 18 to change a “We Are American Baptists” document, adding language about sexuality, the denomination announced. The added phrase reads: “who submit to the teaching of Scripture that God's design for sexual intimacy places it within the context of marriage between one man and one woman, and acknowledge that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with biblical teaching.”
The addition was the subject of a close vote after it was recommended by the denomination's Indiana-Kentucky region. Fifty-nine people voted in favor of it, 45 opposed it and five abstained.
Larry Mason, executive minister of the Indiana-Kentucky region, said of the passage, “We don't see it as a victory so much as a statement by our constituency that the Bible is our authority.”
Religion News Service