AL association ousts church that hired female assoc. pastor

by Staff                                                                                                         Vol. XIX, No. 1, January 2007

Hillcrest Baptist Church in Mobile, AL, recently was ousted from the Mobile Baptist Association by an overwhelming vote on the grounds that the church’s hiring a female associate pastor violated the association’s membership guidelines.

The action, which passed 204–44 at the association’s annual meeting Oct. 19 at Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Mobile, followed the recommendation of the association’s executive committee to disaffiliate with Hillcrest Baptist. At issue was Ellen Sims’ position as associate pastor, a title Bill Whitfield, chairman of the association’s membership committee, said is “interchangeable” with senior pastor in Scripture and thus at odds with the association’s adherence to the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.

The Mobile Baptist Association’s constitution indicates that the “basis of common faith and practice for the association” is the 2000 BF&M, which states that “the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”

“Our exegesis confirmed no distinction biblically in the office of pastor between the contemporary titles of pastor, senior pastor and associate pastor. Even the Internal Revenue Service sees ordination as the distinction for all pastoral roles,” said Thomas Wright, the association’s director of missions. “Multiple options were discussed but [Hillcrest] was unwilling to make any changes to prevent disaffiliation. The membership committee worked hard to maintain affiliation with [the church] even though they historically have not been involved in [associational] meetings, events or training.”