American Baptist Church Struggles Over Gays, Lesbians

The American Baptist Church is divided on whether to accept gay and lesbian members, and four churches in the San Francisco Bay area may be at risk of being pushed out of the fold for doing so.

At least 16 churches have asked the board of managers of the American Baptist Churches of the West to expel congregations in Oakland, San Jose, Berkeley and San Leandro from the organization.

The board--which represents the smallest of the country’s five primary Baptist groups and includes 220 churches in Northern and Central California--deadlocked on the issue of accepting gay and lesbian members earlier in the summer.

“The Scripture teaches that the practice of homosexuality, lesbianism and bisexuality is a sin,” said Harold Meers, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Visalia, who favors ousting the four churches.

Meers said his church offers a support group for those who wish to “change” their sexual orientation. But accepting homosexuality among a congregation is in “direct opposition to the national principle adopted by the Baptist Church,” he said.

But Jim Hopkins of the Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church in Oakland--one of the four being condemned for accepting gays and lesbians--said sexuality is “a gift from God” that should be enjoyed as it is, within a “context of commitment.”

“I will fight this fight a long way to keep that hallmark of Baptist religious freedom from being taken away,” Hopkins said.

The other three churches targeted for ouster are the New Community of Faith Church in San Jose, the First Baptist Church of Berkeley and the San Leandro Community Church.