Diana Bridges, founder and director of a ministry to international students at Mississippi State University in Starkville, was terminated May 15 by the Golden Triangle Baptist Association, which operates the Crossroads International Fellowship House.
The association adopted a policy April 15 that requires all employees to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message. The new policy also requires employees to be members of a church that belongs to the association. Bridges is a member of University Baptist Church, which was rejected for membership in the association in February 2002 in part because of its affiliation with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF).
Steve Lammons, director of missions for the Golden Triangle Baptist Association, declined to comment on Bridges’ dismissal: “That deals with private employee-employer relations, so we don’t really have a statement.”
Diana Bridges was on a missions trip to Turkey and unavailable for comment. Her letter of dismissal said only that “it is no longer in the best interest of Golden Triangle Baptist Association to continue your services of employment.”
David Bridges, her husband, said the Baptist Faith and Message was not cited in discussions about his wife’s dismissal.
“The effort was made to remove her because she is a member of a church affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship,” said David Bridges, a professor at Mississippi State.
University Baptist was founded three years ago by disaffected members of First Baptist Church of Starkville.
Membership sought
University has been in the process of applying for associational membership for more than a year.
Minutes of associational meetings indicate the application was rejected because of the church’s affiliation with the CBF, as well as unspecified “doctrinal and philosophical differences.”
The association’s employment policy adopted in April was recommended by a committee and specified, among other things, that employees “shall affirm their personal beliefs are consistent with the current Baptist Faith and Message and will agree to work in accordance with the document.”
The recommendation apparently was for new employees only and made no mention of church membership. Ed Knox, pastor of Antioch Baptist Church, Columbus and a critic of Diana Bridges, offered an amendment that the policy be applied to current and future employees and that all be required to be members of Golden Triangle churches, according to minutes.
“If you draw a paycheck from Golden Triangle Baptist Association, you should adhere to the doctrine that we as Southern Baptists believe,” Knox told Associated Baptist Press May 22.
(ABP)
Share with others: