A Canadian Baptist church and association ordained two ministers from the United Kingdom Oct. 27 because they could not be ordained in the Baptist Union of Great Britain.
First Baptist Church of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms ordained Andrea King and Luke Dowding as ministers. The ordination was witnessed by family and friends and faith leaders from across North America and Europe.
King, a graduate of Regents College, Oxford, serves as director of safeguarding and strategy for OneBodyOneFaith. Dowding, a graduate of Spurgeon’s College, London, and King’s College London, serves as CEO of OneBodyOneFaith.
Luke Dowding and Andrea King
“Andrea and Luke, due to their sexuality and public position on LGBTQ relationships and LGBTQ safeguarding in the church, are unable to be ordained and accredited in the Baptist Union of Great Britain. This landmark expression of God’s expansive love and inclusive call is the result of years of partnership and building relationships between the Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms, OneBodyOneFaith, and a global partnership for progressive Baptists,” said a news release from the church.
Rusty Edwards is chair of the ordination credentialing committee and senior minister at First Baptist Church of Halifax.
“In 1830, First Baptist Church Halifax sent two qualified clergy to Providence, R.I., in the United States for ordination by the First Baptist Church in America,” he said. “One hundred ninety-four years later, we are living into our story to receive Andrea and Luke, celebrate and affirm the Spirit’s work in their lives, and send them forward to keep living out the justice-love of Jesus. This ordination is part of a larger movement within the global Baptist family to live more fully into our heritage of liberty under the guidance of Jesus Christ.”
Canadian Association for Baptist Freedoms is a Canada-wide fellowship composed of both individuals and churches. They describe themselves as “Baptists freely seeking, living, sharing and celebrating justice, peace and love under the lordship of Christ.”
OneBodyOneFaith is an ecumenical Christian charity based in the UK working to enable LGBTQ Christians to thrive, not just survive.
Clara Rushbrook, co-principal of Northern Baptist College in Manchester, England, participated in both ordination councils and delivered the address during the ordination service.
“I am deeply honored to have been able to share in this historic ordination service today,” she said. “Andrea and Luke are clearly and graciously living out their God-given calling as ministers of the gospel, despite the numerous barriers that have been put in their way. Their integrity, their commitment to justice and their heart for all who are marginalized, are testimony to their deep love of God and faith in Christ and a rich blessing to our global Baptist family and the wider kin-dom of God.”