by Haruo » Mon Jun 18, 2012 12:02 pm
Welcome, Pastor Pete. There aren't a whole lot of ABC folks here; Ed Pettibone and I are the ones that spring to mind, and Tim Bonney is now Methodist but used to be ABC.
On the issue of women pastors, I think Ed and I are both firmly in favor of ordaining such women as believe themselves to be, and are believed by a local church to be, called to the job. (Ed's wife Trudy is an ABC pastor, and my own church has a woman pastor, Rev. Judy Gay. Note that she is a Gay but not a gay, which can complicate or enliven discussion of your second Serious topic.) ABC has had some female pastors since before it even became ABC (back around 1950, the name was changed from "Northern Baptist Convention" to "American Baptist Convention"; the C changed from "Convention" to "Churches" later), but as in most denominations the number of women pastors was quite small until the last couple decades. Since ordination is at its root a function of the local church, it is local churches' decisions that have led to the increase. Whether this was done because of God's leading or in the face of it, I cannot say for sure, but my belief has always been that women are just as likely to be called by God as men, so I've never worried about it. I don't see a clear unified teaching on the subject in the scriptures, but would be happy to entertain your own reading.
On the issue of homosexuality, Ed will be more in agreement with you than I will, though the devil may, as they say, be in the details. I am an individual member of AWAB (the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, the main organization of mainly ABC Baptists advocating for full inclusion of GLBTQ Christians in our churches. Ed, on the other hand, would be happy if we AWAB types would all just go away and be our own denomination. (That's my reading of it; Ed tends to pick nits, so he may want to argue the minutiae of my interpretation.) I don't see any particular evidence in the Bible that God wants sexual orientation treated as a make-it-or-break-it fellowship buster. I fail to see how advocating disfellowshipping can be other than divisive.
I am interested in how you came to pastor an ABC church without having hashed this all out previously. I would think that for a Baptist with a strong bias against women pastors and non-exclusionary treatment of homosexuals any number of other Baptist groups (the Alliance of Baptist being the only other obvious exception; they tend to be more like immersionist UCCs) would be a better fit. What is your background, denominationally and also in terms of seminary education?
Again, welcome. I hope we can have some useful discussion on these topics.
Haruo = Leland Bryant Ross
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