Dear Virginia Baptists,
It’s been a long time, but I think it is the right time for you to hear from one of your sons who has left the fold. Eleven years ago I stopped being a Baptist because I could no longer remain in a denomination that used bad biblical interpretation to justify discrimination. Despite growing up as a PK in Baptist churches, being a Royal Ambassador and later a faithful youth group member, attending numerous youth Evangelism conferences, graduating from a Baptist college and a Baptist seminary and serving on staff at Virginia Baptist churches, I made the painful decision to leave and become a part of another denomination. I’m not the only one; plenty of my fellow Virginia Baptists whom I went to school with left, too. I left 11 years ago; more sons and daughters are leaving now.
I decided to write to you when I read about the decision of the BGAV leadership to expel Ginter Park Baptist Church for ordaining a gay man. I am saddened but not surprised by this action. If the BGAV leaders were at the Jerusalem Conference in Acts 15 I feel sure the early church would never have accepted gentiles.
I came of age when Virginia Baptists were learning that the Holy Spirit could make use of divorced people and women as ministers. You taught me that a narrow interpretation of the Bible about divorce or gender was a poor way to read scripture, but for some reason when it comes to gays and lesbians similar narrow readings are okay.
The decision of the BGAV leaders wouldn’t hurt me so much, if I had not learned from Virginia Baptists to read the Bible with compassion rather than a closed heart. That paradox is painful for me; so painful that I needed to leave the tradition that taught me about a loving God in the first place.
Although I still have friends in ministry who serve Baptist churches; I have plenty more who left Baptist life behind. They and I sought out churches that welcome all who come, because we grew up singing Just as I Am and actually believed those words not only applied to us but to all people. Is it any wonder that younger generations are leaving the church in greater numbers than ever? They know what their parents and grandparents refuse to see — a church that rejects its own children is not worth remaining in. I learned about grace from Virginia Baptists; I just wish Virginia Baptists actually practiced it.
Today my wife and I, along with our sons, worship in a church with heterosexual and homosexual members and we experience the blessing of a Christian community that celebrates its diversity. Rarely does a Sunday go by, however, without me wishing I could have found similar joy in the tradition I grew up in.
Chase Peeples, pastor, Country Club Congregational United Church of Christ, Kansas City, Mo.