Cullowhee Baptist withdraws from TBA

By Rose Hooper

"All of us can do more for the kingdom of God in peace than in conflict," said Jeffrey Vickery, who pastors Cullowhee Baptist Church along with his wife, Tonya.

During an Aug. 4 church conference, members of Cullowhee Baptist voted to immediately withdraw from the Tuckaseigee Baptist Association. "What we decided to do was take a positive step forward to remove conflict," said Jeffrey Vickery.

"It was an overwhelmingly majority vote," said Tonya Vickery.

Three of the 26 present did not vote for the motion because they wanted to wait and withdraw after the associational annual meeting in October, said Jeffrey Vickery.

"For the dissenters it was not a question of whether to withdraw, but when to withdraw," he said.

Battle lines were drawn between the Cullowhee church and the TBA when the association's executive committee voted 40-15 during a July 8 closed meeting to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message. As adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention, the platform says, among other things, that women cannot serve as pastors.

"While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men by scripture," states Article VI of the document.

Cullowhee Baptist does not affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message.

The Vickerys, who became co-pastors of Cullowhee in January, say they plan for their church to work cooperatively with other churches to do ministry.

"It doesn't necessarily mean creating another structure," said Jeffrey Vickery.

"Whether we do it as a network or group will be undefined. Those who want to participate can, but we will not have any restrictions on who can or cannot participate," he said.

The Vickerys envision the cooperative efforts to include the Western North Carolina region and not be limited to Jackson County.

"In keeping with our Baptist tradition, we look forward to new cooperative ministries with sister churches in this county and region," wrote Cullowhee Baptist moderator Charles Hill in the church's withdrawal letter to the TBA.

"We certainly continue to support the Cullowhee church and will work with them in a cooperative way," said the Rev. Wayne Hill, pastor of Sylva First Baptist.

By a two-thirds majority, First Baptist deacons voted last week to recommend withdrawal from the TBA.

"Our congregation is still in the process of making a decision about the October meeting. We're going to share with the congregation some of the thoughts of the deacons and give them some time to make a decision. It's too important of a decision to make too quickly," said Hill, who expects a decision in about a month.

The TBA credentials committee voted 4-1 last month not to seat messengers from Cullowhee and First Baptist at the association's annual meeting in October.

East Sylva's deacons also met Sunday to discuss the issue; the entire church is expected to take up the topic of withdrawal Sunday night, Aug. 18, said the Rev. Charles Dean, pastor.

"I plan to state my reasons why I think we should withdraw, and my main reason is that in all the 36 years I've been involved with the association, it's been based on voluntary participation. Now it's changed from participation to domination.

"Now the TBA wants to tell us who can pastor and who can't, what translation of the Bible we can use and what we can't and what we are to believe and how we are to practice. We no longer have the freedom to choose," said Dean. "I object to that because one thing about Baptists is that we like the right to think for ourselves."

East Sylva voted in May to stop financial support to the TBA. Together, Cullowhee, First Baptist and East Sylva accounted for more than 21 percent of TBA's contributions.

Like the Vickerys, Dean said he is "tired of fighting."

"We would rather the next headline be something positive rather than conflict," said Jeffrey Vickery.

The Vickerys said now that Cullowhee Baptist has withdrawn from the association they can continue their "mission work for Jesus Christ and God first and foremost."

Back to Archive: 08/15/02.