Broadway Baptist

Another Baptist church in Texas has taken a big step. Broadway Baptist in Fort Worth severed ties to the Baptist General Convention of Texas over its continued support, acceptance, and welcoming of gay members. Truth is, this church has had this element for many years (and as rumor has it, including a somewhat prominent member). I suspect it was one of the things about this congregation that most everyone knew but chose not to talk about it. Nowadays, it is easier--for various reasons, good reasons--to talk openly about sexual orientation. And this has become easier for churches as well. This church has been a high-profile congregation for various reasons. Several of their former pastors have gone on to bigger things (Cecil Sherman, John Claypool, Weldon Gaddy, just to name a few). They have had women clergy and women deacons for decades. Further, when fundamentalism began its takeover of the SBC, Broadway was always aligned with the 'moderate' voice in that fight.

So it should come as no huge surprise that Broadway would now take this stance regarding welcoming persons in the GLBT community. It follows suit after Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas did the same thing and over the same issue. It is a new day in Texas Baptist life: Baptists are welcoming gays! But it is also a sign that some Baptist congregations are being Baptist again; they are being autonomous. This aspect of historic Baptist principles had been all but nullified when the fundamentalists took over, issued edicts, and changed language of the Baptist Faith and Message about women's issues and homosexuality. It became a climate of "either you believe as we do, or you're not a part of us" and local and state groups began "dis-associating" with dissenting congregations. This un-Baptist practice became commonplace for the new fundamentalist SBC. As a result, splinter Baptist groups emerged and the SBC did housecleaning on all its seminaries making them bastions of fundamentalism (e.g. prior to the takeover, no SBC seminaries espoused dispensationalism; now I would guess all of them do).

This "trend" has already begun in other states and especially among other Baptist groups (American Baptists), this has been taking place for years. Things take a little longer in the South. I only hope that our own denomination will grow up as well and we Methodists can begin to take similar stances towards our GLBT sisters and brothers. At the risk of stereotyping, if our Baptist friends can do this, certainly we can, too! We all need to take these positions on this and other issues that deal with social justice, peace and inclusion.