Baptist Church Ousted for Hiring Woman Pastor

MOBILE, Ala. – A local Baptist association voted 204 to 44 to remove Hillcrest Baptist Church as a member of its body of Southern Baptist congregations because of its decision to hire a woman pastor.

The Oct. 19 vote by the Mobile Baptist Association affirmed a recommendation from two committees that urged association members to "accept Hillcrest Baptist Church's decision to differ with the guidelines for affiliation by voting for disaffiliation."

At issue was Hillcrest's move earlier this year to hire the Rev. Ellen Sims, who was ordained through the American Baptist Churches USA. Hillcrest Baptist Church has ties to the Southern Baptist Convention, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and, until Thursday's vote, the Mobile Baptist Association.

Neither Sims, who serves as associate pastor, nor Hillcrest's pastor, Dudley Wilson, addressed the hundreds gathered for the session. Before the vote, however, a representative from Hillcrest told the delegates that the congregation would accept their decision in the matter.

While several Protestant denominations -- including some Baptist organizations -- welcome women to serve as pastors, Southern Baptists'
statement of faith stipulates that "the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture."

But Southern Baptists historically have highly valued local church autonomy, a principle that has seemingly allowed some individual congregations to maintain ties with regional or national Southern Baptist bodies despite being at odds with the national group's policy.

The Mobile Baptist Association's constitution, however, states that any church can be removed from membership if it embraces "practices or doctrines contrary to those of the association."

The measure required a two-thirds vote to pass.