The New Baptist Covenant

No doubt, there is something exciting about the gathering of Baptists of all colors and creeds this week in Atlanta. Led by President Jimmy Carter, the New Baptist Covenant will bring together all sorts of Baptist congregations and associations.

From The New York Times:

The meeting’s statement of shared purpose, known as its covenant, calls for Baptists to focus on their traditional values, like “sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ,” and to work together on social issues like fighting poverty. It does not create a new denomination.

“I would like to see a demonstration that Christians who have different backgrounds and different political and theological orientations and geographical locations can come together in the spirit of unity,” Mr. Carter said, “not just for Baptists, but for Christians all over the world.”

But for other Baptists and experts on the faith, a central aim of the gathering seems to be to create a theological and political counterweight to the Southern Baptist Convention, which many of the groups that plan to attend have left.

Politically and theologically conservative, the Southern Baptist Convention, with 16 to 18 million members, is the largest denomination in the United States after the Roman Catholic Church.

“The sense is that the public image is dominated by the Southern Baptist Convention,” said the Rev. David W. Key, director of Baptist studies at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta. “It’s not that the New Baptist Covenant will do the same things as the Southern Baptist Convention does. But it’s about the brand name. ‘Can we create a brand?’ ”

I love the idea… the spirit of the gathering and fellowship, but I’m left wondering: Where do LGBT Baptists like me fit into all this new Baptist covenantry?

In summer 2007, the organization heading up the New Baptist Covenant told two Baptist affiliations welcoming and affirming of LGBT people they would not be welcome at the gathering:

The North American Baptist Fellowship, under whose auspices next year’s “Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant” is being held, has informed the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists and the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America that they cannot become affiliates of the NABF. Therefore, they cannot be official participants in the event.

“This is not a rejection of either organization or the people in those organization[s],” wrote Alan Stanford, general secretary of the NABF, in an e-mail alerting leaders of the two groups to NABF’s decision. “It is a recognition that we can not hold together the large coalition of Baptists needed to create a new Baptist voice in North America and address the issue of sexual orientation at the same time. We ask for your forbearance and understanding.”

So, what do we do? Are LGBT Baptists expected to just sit back and wait? Why can’t we be included now? Why can’t the New Baptist Fellowship take up the same ideals espoused so well by Charlotte’s Myers Park Baptist Church: We may not agree on all things, but we are united under one Christ; let’s walk this faith journey together?

But all of us — including us LGBT Baptists — know that Baptists hardly ever work things out quickly or easily. For us Baptists, things take time, unfortunately.

The New Baptist Covenant, it seems, will only be a covenant for straight Baptists. LGBT congregants will be left waiting in the wings. We’ll quietly sit in the back of the sanctuary and wait our turn, they think. Wrong. They’ll hear from us, whether when it is when we stand up to participate in Bible readings during worship services, or when we lead or sing in the choir, or when we teach Sunday School classes, or help in the breaking of bread and the sharing of the cup.

Exclusion… it might be a tempting thing to do, but it won’t work.

I give credit to President Carter and others who are trying to build a coalition of Baptists who can really focus on what it actually means to be Baptist. They’ll never get to that point, though, until they include all Baptists.

Posted in Anti-LGBT, LGBT, Religion, Sexuality, United States |