( ABP) -- A Nashville, Tennessee church faces possible ouster from its local association because members hired a lesbian minister. A Jan. 26 article in The Tennessean, Nashville’s daily newspaper, reported that Glendale Baptist Church in Green Hills called April Baker, a professed lesbian, as associate pastor for children and families last May.

According to the article, Glendale hired Baker out of a field of candidates of which all were women and two were lesbians. But the church denied Baker’s hiring was an attempt to make a statement. According to Annette Sisson, who was on the search committee that presented Baker, members only wanted to find the best person for the job.

But members of Nashville Baptist Association took exception to the church’s hiring of Baker. The association's executive board voted in Feb. 17 to recommend withdrawing fellowship from the congregation if Glendale fails to reverse its action by September.

Prior to the executive board meeting, three representatives of the Nashville association met with Glendale pastor Mark Caldwell and other leaders from the church to verify the accuracy of The Tennessean story. Association leaders asked if the church was approving a homosexual lifestyle by hiring Baker, according to Jim Freedman, the association's director of missions. Glendale leaders denied that hiring Baker constituted an endorsement of her lifestyle, Freedman said.

The association advised Glendale leaders of the its position on homosexuality and told them if the church did not make a change, "the executive board would recommend that the association withdraw fellowship from the church."

According to its constitution, the association can withdraw affiliation from any church which "persists in doctrinal practices out of harmony with the Baptist Faith and Message," the Southern Baptist Convention's doctrinal statement. Hiring a lesbian minister qualifies, Freedman said.

Glendale likely will be booted from the Southern Baptist Convention as well, said Bill Merrill, an SBC spokesman. The SBC was unaware of Baker's hiring until the article appeared in the Tennessean.

When contacted by Tennessee's Baptist state paper, Baptist and Reflector, Caldwell declined to comment, referring questions to Glendale's church council. Caldwell is slated to retire as pastor March 16.

Martha Jo Berry, chair of Glendale's church council, said the church understands "that many NBA members have strong opinions about decisions we have made as a community of faith."

"We appreciate the fact that representatives of the NBA, instead of acting on supposition and in reaction to news reports, came to visit with us directly about the situation," she said in a statement March 10.

While the congregation "wish[es] the NBA the best," Berry said, "Glendale will continue to follow the teachings of Christ as we understand them and to serve God, faithful to our Baptist heritage and traditions."

© 2003 Associated Baptist Press
© 2003 Maranatha Christian News Service