N.C. Baptists Expel Gay-Affirming Church
North Carolina Baptists concluded their annual meeting Wednesday after addressing division and expelling a church for welcoming and affirming homosexuals into church leadership.
Nearly 3,000 delegates, or "messengers," of the N.C. Baptist State Convention, voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to expel Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte for violating the Baptist group's constitution.
The liberal church consisting of about 1,970 members was the first to be kicked out of the state convention under new rules passed at the 2006 meeting that considers any Baptist church that welcomed gays and lesbians without trying to change their orientation to be "not in friendly cooperation" with the state convention. Six other churches left the state convention in protest of the new rules, saying the new rule violated local autonomy, according to The Associated Press.
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The Bible calls on believers to turn away from sin, including homosexual behavior, and be healed by Jesus, Allan Blume, president of the convention's board of directors, told messengers during the Nov. 12-14 meeting in Greensboro.
Before the vote, delegates heard an appeal from Myers Park leaders who called the convention to "open [their] hearts to all who seek to worship God," reported Nancy Walker, deacon of the Charlotte church and a lesbian, according to Associated Baptist Press.
"I appeal to you by the mercies of God to refrain from removing churches like ours from fellowship," Steve Shoemaker, pastor of Myers Park, told the messengers.
"Jesus welcomed those considered outcasts, as sinners by those religious, into the kingdom of God drawing near," said Shoemaker. He said Myers Park slowly overcame its original resistance to inclusion of gay and lesbian persons "as Peter overcame his resistance to including Gentiles in the kingdom of God."
The Charlotte church also acknowledged that its acceptance of homosexuals into positions of church leadership places the congregation in opposition to the state convention's constitution.
"The church today has by its own admission been in violation," Blume said. Blume also noted that Myers Park had sent no messengers to the convention for at least eight years, contributed "extremely little" financially and is aligned with several organizations which affirm or bless homosexual behavior, according to ABP.
"[Myers Park] has chosen to exclude itself from fellowship," said Blume.
While some delegates called for the state convention to extend to Myers Park "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," as the Rev. Jim Burch of First Baptist Church in Greensboro stated, most supported the decision to expel the church.
"We need to be compassionate, yes, but we need to be firm in the message of the need to repent," said the Rev. John Miller of Immanuel Baptist Church in Concord, according to The Charlotte Observer.
On Wednesday, an altar call drew hundreds in prayer for a "new day" in North Carolina Baptist life. Addressing a convention recently wracked by division, Mark Harris, pastor of First Baptist Church in Charlotte, called delegates to "give up negativism, back biting and sniping at each other."
