Baptist committee objects to woman in pulpit

By Rose Hooper and Lynn Hotaling

The Credentials Committee of the Tuckaseigee Baptist Association has criticized one of its founding members for having a woman co-pastor. Jackson County's oldest Baptist church, Cullowhee Baptist, which was founded in 1821, called Jeffrey and Tonya Vickery to co-pastor their church in January.

But a woman in the pulpit violates the association's bylaws, according to the group's Pastors' Conference, which referred the matter to the TBA Credentials Committee. That committee recommended 3-2 during its April 23 meeting that Cullowhee's delegates not be seated at the association's annual meeting in October.

Members of the committee further recommended Cullowhee Baptist be removed from the association by a two-thirds majority at the annual meeting unless "corrective action" is taken by the church.

Action taken by the Credentials Committee was intended to remain confidential until it could be presented at the association's Executive Committee meeting in July, said Claude Conard, interim director of missions for the association and an ex-officio member of that committee. Conard otherwise declined comment. Chairman Cecil Frady of Lovedale, along with members Keith Ashe of Zion Hill and Bill Ansley of East Sylva, also declined to be quoted. Member Steve Bialy, pastor of Greens Creek, was unavailable Tuesday.

Only Wilma Cosper of Cullowhee Baptist, a lay representative on the committee, agreed to be quoted on the subject.

"I'm not going down that road with them," Cosper said. "The meeting should not be a secret and I told the members that. My pastors, deacons and church wanted - and deserved - to know what happened," Cosper said.

Voting in favor of a motion from Bialy to remove Cullowhee Baptist were Bialy, Ashe and Conard. Chairman Frady abstained, and Cosper and Ansley voted against the recommendation.

The Pastors' Conference, led by Hamburg Baptist Pastor Matt Ledbetter, referred the matter to the Credentials Committee in a Jan. 24 letter.

"There are matters of doctrine and practice within the Cullowhee Baptist Church that do not conform to the clear teachings of the New Testament," the letter stated.

These matters deal with the Biblical qualifications for the office of pastor, continued the letter, which was signed by the Rev. Terry Wehunt, then president of the Pastors' Conference, and Ledbetter, who was vice president of the conference at that time.

In the letter, Ledbetter and Wehunt cite The 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, which states, "While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by scripture." To date, the TBA has not adopted that Southern Baptist platform.

While TBA bylaws do not prohibit women as pastors, the Southern Baptist Convention does. Cullowhee Baptist does not financially support that convention, although it does support the Baptist State Convention and the local association.

"We were concerned about matters of doctrine and practice at the Cullowhee church that violated some articles in the association bylaws," Ledbetter said Tuesday.

One breach is that Cullowhee has a woman pastor, which he said is in opposition to the teachings of the New Testament. The other is that association bylaws require each member church to be in "cooperating fellowship" with the Southern Baptist Convention, which Cullowhee is not, Ledbetter said.

"(Cullowhee Baptist) has distanced itself from the Tuckaseigee Baptist Association by not being in cooperative fellowship with the Southern Baptist Convention," Ledbetter said.

Approximately 27 of the TBA's 45 member churches were represented at the meeting when it was decided to refer the matter to the Credentials Committee, Ledbetter said.

Cullowhee defends its right to call a woman as co-pastor, said Cecil Hill, Cullowhee's chairman of deacons. A reconciliation statement drafted and voted upon by the association in 1999 clearly states that the local church has autonomy in matters of doctrine and practice, Hill said.

TBA bylaws address "the right of local churches as sovereign and independent bodies."

"I don't see it as a personal attack of Tonya and me," said Jeffrey Vickery. "Women have faced criticism before in Baptist organizations and they will again. But the thing I like about the Baptist denomination is that the decision ultimately rests with the people."

Although she said she was disappointed by the action of the Credentials Committee, Tonya Vickery said she has faith that the larger body of the Executive Committee will "work for harmony."

That committee is composed of the general officers and program leaders elected by the association and the pastor and one member from each church in the association.

Association bylaws do not specifically authorize the Credentials Committee to recommend a church be removed from the association. The bylaws do charge the committee with counseling churches it considers to be out of "harmony" with the association.

The Vickerys said they "invited the committee's counsel" in February, an invitation they said has yet to be accepted.

Meanwhile, TBA churches continue to debate who has the final authority on church matters, according to advertisements that have appeared in The Sylva Herald. Moses Creek passed a resolution in support of the authority of the Bible and maintains that scripture limits the office of pastor or deacon to men.

In a resolution presented to the TBA April 8, First Baptist of Sylva states: "Jesus Christ, rather than the Bible, is the final authority on all matters of faith and practice."

Sylva First Baptist's resolution, which was presented to the association as information only, also shows the church's support for Cullowhee Baptist, stating that "the historic relationship between the two churches is more highly prized than a relationship to an association which would deprive Cullowhee Baptist Church of its local autonomy."

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