By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer
NEW ORLEANS (LBM) – Messengers voted, June 13, to disfellowship three churches who were found to be “not in friendly cooperation” with the Southern Baptist Convention.
The tally of three ballots was revealed the next morning, June 14.
During the Tuesday session of the 2023 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting, representatives from Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, California (three ordained women pastors), Fern Creek Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky (female senior pastor), and Freedom Church, Vero Beach, Florida (mishandling of sex abuse allegation), made appeals regarding their respective cases. After each of these speakers, a representative of the Convention responded. Messengers then cast a ballot vote.
The results were overwhelming to sustain the disfellowship of each congregation: Fern Creek, 9,700 (91.85 percent) “for” and 806 (7.63 percent) “against” expulsion; Freedom Church, 9,984 (96.46 percent) “for” and 343 (3.31 percent) “against” expulsion; and Saddleback Church, 9,432 (88.46 percent) “for” and 1,212 (11.36 percent) “against” expulsion.
BACKGROUND
All three congregations were voted out as SBC members in February by the Convention’s Credentials Committee and Executive Committee for not holding to “a faith and practice which closely identifies with the Convention’s adopted statement of faith” in accordance with Article III of the SBC Constitution.
Specifically, Saddleback Church and Fern Creek Baptist Church were found to be in violation of Article VI of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, which states “the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”
Meanwhile, Freedom Church was ousted on the basis of Article III of the SBC Constition itself that rejects membership to a church which “Does not act in a manner consistent with the Convention’s beliefs regarding sexual abuse.”
FERN CREEK BAPTIST
Linda Barnes Popham, pastor of Fern Creek, cited her church’s conservative, evangelical and missions focus.
“We know that Jesus is the only way to the Father,” she said. “We know that His Word is perfect. And we know that one day He is coming again. But we also know that the Spirit is illumination to our hearts and minds, and therefore we don’t all interpret every Scripture the same way. We believe that the Bible allows women to serve in ways in which all of you do not agree, but we should still be able to partner together as the prophet said, by enlarging the place of our tent and lengthening our chords.”
Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, said while the Convention does not seek to invade the autonomy of the local church, the SBC has the sole responsibility to establish its own membership and to define what it means to be a church in friendly cooperation with the Convention.
“This comes down to two key words – doctrine and order,” he said. “And that comes down to the question whether any congregation in doctrine and in order is in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention. The issue of a woman serving as a pastor is an issue of fundamental biblical authority that does violate both the doctrine and the order of the Southern Baptist Convention.”
FREEDOM CHURCH
Donald Stewart, an elder at Freedom Church, said the church has a long-standing history with the Convention and had addressed the issue at hand. He said the pastor in question resigned May 22 and the church now has an interim pastor who is a life-long Baptist.
“First, our long-standing policies and practices show that we very much act in a manner consistent with the Convention’s beliefs regarding sexual abuse,” he said. “Second, at the time our former pastor was called and even to this day, there have never been any allegations of sexual abuse brought against him by any women anywhere under his pastoral care or otherwise. This has been confirmed through an independent investigation done by the Anglican Church of North America. Third, we have addressed the issue by using a local Baptist pastor until we can decide how to best fill the position.”
Dean Inserra, pastor of City Church, Tallahassee, Florida, said the Treasure Coast Baptist Association and the Florida Baptist Convention have acted to remove Freedom Church from their respective fellowships on the grounds the church called an individual to the senior pastor role who is biblically disqualified from ministry as a SBC pastor. He said the pastor was investigated by another denomination, which found credible allegations of sinful behavior and reported an admitted pattern of sexual misconduct with women under his pastoral care and supervision.
He said the association and state convention both provided Freedom Church with confirmed and admitted sexual conduct of the individual serving as the senior pastor, but the church took no further action.
Inserra said during an inquiry by the Credentials Committee, a staff member “hung up” when called by a Credentials Committee member. Furthermore, the church did not respond to multiple letters sent to the church.
“The church is now deceptively claiming that the problem has been resolved because the pastor in question has resigned,” Inserra said. “In our opinion, the Freedom Church has no intention of removing this individual from leadership. In fact, the pastor’s resignation has been described to the church as a strategic move designed to get the church back into the Southern Baptist Convention while the individual remains in a leadership role and is only stepping back until things can be settled with the SBC. Fellow messengers, this is serious business.”
SADDLEBACK CHURCH
Rick Warren, founding pastor of Saddleback Church, said Southern Baptists will never agree on every doctrinal issue and they instead should work with a spirit of cooperation.
“For 178 years, the SBC has been a blend of at least a dozen different tribes of Baptists. If you think every Baptist thinks like you, you’re mistaken,” he said. “What we share in common is a mutual commitment to the inerrancy and the infallibility of God’s word and to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. No one is asking any Southern Baptist to change their theology. I’m not asking you to agree with my church. I am asking you to act like a Southern Baptist who have historically agreed to disagree on dozens of doctrines in order to share a common mission.”
He said Saddleback Church disagrees with just one word in the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.
“That’s 99.99999999 (percent) in agreement,” he said. “Isn’t that close enough?”
Mohler replied that Saddleback Church has the right to have women pastors on staff, but they cannot do that and be Southern Baptist.
He noted that 30 years ago the issue threatened to tear apart the denomination.
“We look to this issue because Southern Baptists decided this is not just a matter of church polity,” he said. “It is not just a matter of hermeneutics. It’s a matter of biblical commitment, a commitment to the Scripture that unequivocally – we believe – limits the office of pastor to men. It is an issue of biblical authority. It is one that has actually led to the unity of the Southern Baptist Convention as Southern Baptists have gone forward with an issue of clarity here which has greatly made our doctrine and order a matter of unity and harmony.”
