Southern Baptists May Remove Church for Woman Co-Pastor
- Posted on April 08, 2010
- Viewed 1001 times
- (51) comments
Rev. Mimi Walker was ordained in 2003 and serves as co-pastor with her husband of Druid Hills Baptist Church. That's the sole reason that the Georgia Baptist Convention wants to remove the church from its role.
The 52 year old former missionary wonders why.
“It seems sad that they decided to go backwards in time...I’m not sure what the value is of trying to go back in time when women were held in subservience.”
More from an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
The GBC’s executive committee made the recommendation to sever ties with the church at a March 16 meeting. If its recommendation is approved at the annual convention in November, the GBC would no longer accept money from Druid Hills for missions and programs, nor would the church be able to send delegates — called messengers — to future annual meetings.
“...Druid Hills Baptist Church of Atlanta is not a cooperating church as defined in Article II, Section 1 of the constitution because a woman is serving as co-pastor of the church,” the GBC said in a statement.
“We are keeping faith with the Baptist Faith and Message with regard to women serving as pastor,” GBC executive director J. Robert White said in a statement. “The GBC has never been opposed to women serving in ministry positions other than pastor.”
The Georgia Baptist Convention, an affiliate of the Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention, has roughly 3,600 churches. There are 41 state conventions throughout the country. The Georgia convention is one of the 41 affiliates, but it has its own constitution and bylaws.
The church will prepare a response if the GBC should “dis-fellowship” it, the Rev. Graham Walker said.
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You can read the whole article here...
What do you think? Regardless of your view of women in ministry, is this something that is worth dis-fellowshipping over?
Todd
Comments
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Pastor Matt on Fri, April 09, 2010
My emphasis - not sure you’ve picked it up yet - is that the institution is made up not of its rules & its constitution but of the churches within it. Therefore it is not about “should we leave or not based on the rules” but “we are changing, ergo the institution itself is changing” whether it likes it or not.
As usual we’ll just have to disagree - as I usually do with most people on this comment thread.
K. A. Christian on Fri, April 09, 2010
Matt… if the organization/church is not based upon rules… then the organization/church isn’t a organization/church… and if the organization/church depends upon the people not the principals of God’s Word… then the organization/church wouldn’t have lasted this long… many have came along and tried to change how the organization/church is to be governed… that’s why we’re to contend for the faith… that was handed down to us from Jesus through the apostles…
the truth of the matter is that Jesus lived by rules and regulations outlined within Scripture… the sinfulness in man struggles with God’s Word and rules… because man is autonomous, man feels he doesn’t has to ascribe to any set rules… the Bible said the day is coming when men would do what is right in his own eyes… the earth is going to pass away but God’s Word (Logos) is going to stand…
Matt i wish you well… discernment is the key to understanding when to fight and when to stand still… the battle is not ours it’s the Lord’s…
CS on Fri, April 09, 2010
Pastor Matt:
“Its an irrelevant illustrations. It has everything to do with politics and near-Pharisaical control of power and oppression. Not allowing Women to be is a tradition of man not the law of God - the Baptist Assoc have an ancient and bizarre interpretation of Paul’s writings. “
How do you reconcile that with passages such as those in 1 Timothy 2, where the role of men in the pastoral role was directly linked by Paul to the creation of Adam and Eve? Or 1 Timothy 3 and Titus which lays out the gender roles in the elder/pastor/bishop position?
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CS
K. A. Christian on Fri, April 09, 2010
CS,
the church today ignore Biblical mandate… because the people makes the rules… the majority rules is the norm today… lol…
Pastor Matt on Fri, April 09, 2010
CS, I imagine we’re all familiar with Paul’s viewpoints on the role of women in leadership, the different interpretations and the differing practices that come out of that interpretation. We’re not going to make any new ground on the women in ministry argument here. I will say however that for me it is poor hermeneutics to discount women in leadership because of what Paul said both to churches directly and in his pastoral epistles. But that isn’t the topic we’re discussing here.
AK, you said “if the organization/church depends upon the people not the principals of God�s Word” - but that is precisely my point - discounting women from leadership is not a principal from God’s word but a religious cultural/traditional attitude that will change. If the baptist association doesn’t get it now, it certainly will in a 100 years.
CS on Fri, April 09, 2010
Pastor Matt:
“I will say however that for me it is poor hermeneutics to discount women in leadership because of what Paul said both to churches directly and in his pastoral epistles.”
How do you apply hermeneutics to those verses I cited above? How do you get around the gender roles that are clearly laid out?
“But that isn’t the topic we’re discussing here.”
You were the one who brought it up by saying, “Not allowing Women to be is a tradition of man not the law of God - the Baptist Assoc have an ancient and bizarre interpretation of Paul’s writings,” and caused it to enter into the discussion.
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CS
K. A. Christian on Fri, April 09, 2010
Matt, good hermeneutics doesn’t exempt women from leadership roles in ministry… you’re absolutely right… the Baptist not isolating women from leadership… we’re holding fast to Scripture qualification for pastoralship… that doesn’t mean that women are inferrior or less important… it has to do with God’s design for pastoralship… good hermeneutics also shows that God has set aside certain things to be done by men and certain things to be done by women… the problem arises when the individuals doesn’t want to stay in their lanes…
As Christians we’re not to add to nor subtract from God’s Word… but were to preach the whole Bible… God’s Word is clear, it’s man’s sinfulness that makes issues…
Pastor Matt on Fri, April 09, 2010
CS, Greater minds than ours have discussed this topic ad infinitum. I seriously can’t be bothered to have a protracted debate about the issue when you’ve clearly adopted one side and I have adopted the other.
Pastor Matt on Fri, April 09, 2010
KA, see my answer above to CS. Thanks for the discussion.
K. A. Christian on Fri, April 09, 2010
It’s sad when Christians doesn’t want to deal with Scripture but would rahter go with the worlds system… if we’re not going to be governed by Scripture then we’re not apart of God’s Church… the world doesn’t dictate God’s design for the church… it has nothing to do with great minds… because God said He’ll take the foolish things of the world to shame the wise… it has everything to do with a heart that receptive to God’s Word…
Pastor Matt on Fri, April 09, 2010
KA, Yes, it is a great shame that you and the baptist assoc are not governed by scripture. Very sad indeed that they allow traditions of men to dictate their understanding of God’s word. Sad, sad, sad.
K. A. Christian on Fri, April 09, 2010
Matt, what part of Scripture are we holding to that’s tradition of men? please use Scripture to point out not your view/opinion…
CS on Fri, April 09, 2010
Pastor Matt:
“CS, Greater minds than ours have discussed this topic ad infinitum. I seriously can’t be bothered to have a protracted debate about the issue when you’ve clearly adopted one side and I have adopted the other. “
May I offer this suggestion, then? Next time, when a debate like this comes about, just say, “I believe my position is biblical and right, and I believe your position is unbiblical and wrong.” That way, we’re not dodging around comments where Scripture gets invoked, but yet becomes off-limits. I offer the same courtesy here in saying that I believe your hermeneutics is wrong when it comes to women in the pastor/elder/bishop role.
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CS
Pastor Matt on Fri, April 09, 2010
CS, I’m fairly sure I did say something along those lines. Obviously you believe I am wrong, I believe you are wrong. We all believe we’re being governed by scripture, and being faithful to the word of God.
I’m not dodging a debate of scripture but I was trying to keep the discussion on topic. The topic was not “should women be discounted from being a pastor/elder/bishop” but “should our disagreement over this issue be divisive and be something that a church should be dis-fellowshipped for?” Hence my refusal to discuss the women in leadership question.
It is a given that people disagree over the issue of women in leadership, but I refuse to be drawn into debating that already concluded tangent. Our discussion was instead focussed on the fallout from adopting unmovable positions or whether an institution should find a way to continue relationship with churches that do not share all of its values.
K. A. Christian on Fri, April 09, 2010
Matt,
what was posted in my comments had to do with rules and regulations that organizations has set in place shouldn’t be brokern because a church decides it wants to go against the rules… the church should be withdrawn from the fellowship of the oganization… rules are set in place to be abided to…
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