By Tom Henderson, McMinnville
N-R/News-Register 7/12/2016
When Baptist preachers fall back on
the fire and brimstone, gay and transgendered people start to sweat.
Members of the Westboro Baptist
Church in Kansas notoriously single out members of the LGBTQ community as
sinners in the eyes of an angry God, and Baptists overall tend to have a stern
and conservative reputation.
The Rev. Erika Marksbury wants
members of the local LGBTQ community to know the hottest thing they will
encounter at McMinnville First Baptist Church is the coffee poured during the
social hour.
In keeping with that, Marksbury has
suggested her congregation join the Association of Welcoming and Affirming
Baptists, which would, she argues, let everyone know the church’s doors — and
hearts — are open to everyone.
“We wouldn’t be changing
denominational affiliations,” Marksbury said.
“We’d still be American Baptist. The
idea isn’t about changing that.
“The Welcome and Affirming Baptists
is not a denomination. It’s an extra organization. It is an organization that
provides resources and means to welcome more people. It would be a way of
letting everyone know that LGBTQ people are welcome here.”
Nonetheless, she said, it would
represent a bold move — one never before made in Oregon.
“Many American Baptist congregations
have made this move, but none in Oregon,” Marksbury said. “Our affiliation
might cause a stir in the region.”
Marksbury proposed the idea of
joining the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists to her church’s
board of directors. No decision has been made yet. “The board approved moving
forward,” she said.
“They agreed this decision should be
made by the whole congregation, and that we should form a group on how we want
to have that conversation.”
She said the conversations
themselves could be valuable. “It might also allow us to have conversations
where we can witness about why we believe this kind of welcome is part of how
we can best follow the example and teachings of Jesus,” she said.
The Baptist faith’s conservative
reputation is derived from the range of different denominations that use the
word “Baptist,” many of which fall toward the more conservative end of the
scale, Marksbury said.
But she said, “Part of what it means
to be Baptist is that each local church is accountable for its direction and
mission.”
The Rev. Ronny Cooksey represents
the more conservative branch of the Baptist tradition at McMinnville’s Valley
Baptist Church. It is affiliated with the Northwest Baptist Convention, an arm
of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The church was founded 45 years ago,
Cooksey said, and not in reaction to the more liberal First Baptist leanings.
He said he was not familiar with the
Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, but said it didn’t sound like
something that would interest his congregation.
“We try to stick to what the Bible
says on sexuality and gender issues,” he said. “Words like ‘welcoming’ and
‘affirming’ these days usually mean they don’t hold to those things the same
way. We’ll stick to what the Bible says about marriage and gender issues.”
But Cooksey said he doesn’t want
people to think his church is unwelcoming.
“That sounds like we’re
anti-homosexual,” he said. “That’s not true.
We believe homosexuality is a sin
against God, but we have all sinned against God.
“Homosexual sin is like heterosexual
sin or like alcoholism or theft or abuse or anger or anything else. Jesus died
for all of us, and coming to know him will also mean changes in our
lifestyles.”
Southern Baptists are not
self-righteous or hateful, Cooksey said.
“We’re not saying we’re better than
other people,” he said. “We’re not holding ourselves to a different standard.
“We are all sinners. When a person
understands that Jesus is the only way to heaven and becomes a Christ follower,
God will begin to change that person’s life, just as he is doing in our lives
at Valley Baptist.”
Marksbury doesn’t want to cast
aspersions on other Baptist denominations, or its members. At the same time,
she wants people to know there is more than one flavor of Baptist church.
“Southern Baptists have done really
well in engaging the media,” she said. “When people think ‘Baptist,’ they think
Southern Baptist.
“We share some commitments with
them, but in terms of social views, we differ greatly. I think it’s so
interesting, the relationship between the big church and the individual
congregations.”
First Baptist has become
increasingly progressive over the last two or three decades.
One of the early manifestations was
Together Works, a congregation subset created 25 years ago to support the LGBTQ
community and its concerns. As Marksbury noted, “That’s quite a long time, when
you think of it, for a group like that.”
The progressive evolution has not
always been easy or painless, Marksbury said, but it reflects the heart of
today’s members.
“I think they’re pretty committed to
that progress,” she said. “The congregation is devoted to themes of peace and
justice.”
