FORT WORTH, Texas (ABP) — A prominent Texas Baptist congregation embroiled in a highly public controversy over homosexuality and other issues chose March 9 to keep its pastor.
Members of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, voted 499-237 against firing Brett Younger. He has served as the church's senior minister for nearly seven years.
“The vote means that two-thirds of the congregation wants to continue to be a church that goes beyond what's expected of a church,” Younger said, in an e-mailed response to a request for comment. “Broadway is an amazing congregation that's willing to deal with difficult issues. The church will keep challenging its members to think and serve.”
The decision to retain Younger came weeks after a group of disgruntled Broadway members submitted a petition attempting to force a vote to declare the church's pulpit vacant. The congregation's deacons initially recommended a three-month period during which the church would hire a consultant to rejoin the opposing factions. But in late February, Younger asked church leaders to schedule the vote on his fate.
It was the second controversial vote at Broadway in as many weeks. On Feb. 24, the congregation approved a compromise to end controversy over whether gay couples in the church should be pictured alongside other families in a new church directory. Some members objected to having those photos included, saying that would move from simply welcoming gay couples — which Broadway has done quietly for years — to actively affirming their homosexuality.
But the gay couples and their supporters opposed removing the photos from the directory. The compromise will feature neither family nor individual photos but instead picture every active member in candid and group photos.
The controversy made its way to the blogs of Broadway members and other interested Baptists and then appeared in both the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Dallas Morning News. Associated Baptist Press, gay news organizations and other national news outlets then picked up on the controversy.
It soon ballooned into a dispute over Younger's overall leadership.
The anti-Younger group, calling itself Friends for the Future of Broadway, said the handling of the directory and other issues proved that Younger's leadership was divisive and that he had led the church away from its “historical moderate Baptist theological heritage.” They cited other recent disputes, including one over a ministry to the homeless and Younger's invitation of controversial theologian Marcus Borg to speak at Broadway.
A larger group signed a counter-petition supporting Younger's leadership and calling for continued dialogue over sexuality and other divisive issues within the congregation.
Robert Saul, a spokesman for the group opposing Younger, responded to a request for comment with a prepared statement. It said Friends for the Future of Broadway accepted the congregation's decision.
“Our desire was for the congregation to be able to vote. Now the members have spoken,” he said. “We respect the will of the majority and pray for the congregation's healing, recovery and continued service to the community that befits a 125-year-old church.”
However, Saul added, as a result of the turmoil, about 300 members have already left or plan leave Broadway.
Younger, for his part, interpreted the vote positively. “The people at Broadway seemed to feel like a two-thirds vote was amazingly affirming,” he said.
Broadway, founded in 1882, has long been one of the most prominent churches in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and in so-called moderate Baptist life nationally. Among its previous pastors was Cecil Sherman, the founding coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. CBF's current moderator, Harriet Harral, is a longtime Broadway member.
Generations of students, professors and administrators at nearby Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary have been active Broadway members.
While it has always differed in its theological approach and worship style from many Southern Baptist congregations, Broadway has since 1979 increasingly charted away from its historic denomination. That year, increasingly conservative leaders began taking over the Southern Baptist Convention's governing structure.
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Read more:
Fort Worth congregation subject of latest Internet-fueled struggle (2/21/2008)