KBC committee votes to sever ties with Louisville church that ordains gay clergy, performs same-sex marriages

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This is a news post from the Kentucky Baptist Convention website.

LOUISVILLE – A Kentucky Baptist Convention committee has voted to sever ties with a Louisville church that voted to ordain people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and to perform same-sex marriages.

The Committee on Credentials took the action Thursday against Crescent Hill Baptist Church.

“We’re grieved by Crescent Hill’s departure from biblical teaching and Baptist beliefs,” KBC Executive Director Paul Chitwood said. “We’re prayerful that they will return to the truth of Scripture on this issue and seek to be restored. We’re thankful that Kentucky Baptists remain grounded in the Bible as our culture continues to rush headlong toward chaos with regard to human sexuality and gay marriage. Our love for all people, including those who practice homosexuality, requires us to speak the truth about sin even when we are speaking it to one another.”

KBC leaders were alerted to Crescent Hill’s decision by a statement on its website, which reads: “The congregation overwhelmingly voted to be open to grant ordination, hire, or perform wedding ceremonies for LGBTQ individuals. In other words, sexual identity or orientation will not be a factor in determining whether the church will ordain, hire or perform a wedding ceremony.”

Chairman Kevin Smith said credentials committee members found Crescent Hill is no longer “in friendly cooperation” with Kentucky Baptists. That, he said, led to Thursday’s action, which was taken only after a series of private discussions between leaders of the KBC and Crescent Hill.

KBC President Chip Hutcheson said the decision to disassociate Crescent Hill will be presented for a vote at the annual meeting in Bowling Green Nov. 11.

“People will be allowed to speak for and against it, and then there will be a vote of the convention messengers,” he said.

Hutcheson called it “incredibly sad” that Crescent Hill has abandoned scriptural guidance on sexuality.

“For those of us who consider biblical teaching quite clear on this issue, for any church to, in essence, declare that teaching null and void, it breaks your heart, as it would any doctrine of Scripture,” he said.

 

 

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