FALLS CHURCH, Va. — The organization sponsoring an upcoming historic Pan-Baptist gathering has told two gay-friendly Baptist groups they cannot participate in an official capacity.
The North American Baptist Fellowship (NABF), which is holding next year’s Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant, has informed the Association of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists (AWAB) and the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America that they cannot join 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 a July 18 e-mail alerting leaders of the two groups to NABF’s decision. “[I]t is a recognition that we [cannot] 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.”
The event is scheduled for early 2008 in Atlanta. It is designed to bring together as many different Baptist denominational bodies in North America as possible, including those of Southern Baptist, American Baptist and black Baptist heritage. Organizers — who include former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton — have said they hope to unite an ideologically diverse array of Baptists around the common causes of promoting evangelism, fighting poverty and supporting religious freedom.
But Ken Pennings, executive director of the AWAB, said organizers are ignoring one of the biggest social-justice issues by avoiding the controversial topic of sexuality and the church
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