This story is getting a great deal of attention on Twitter (#cbfassembly) concerning CBF and a proposed workshop entitled “Homosexuality and the Church.”
The gist is this:
Over a year ago, Dr. Frank Tupper - Professor of Theology at Wake Forest University Divinity School - proposed a workshop for CBF’s General Assembly on Homosexuality and the Church. Here is Tupper’s rationale for the workshop:
Homosexuality is the single most significant, emotional, and divisive issues in the United States today, and Baptists are talking about it along with everyone else. However, we Baptists remain silent, i.e. we do not discuss the issue anywhere in the congregational life of the church. Consequently, neither extensive Bible study or an analysis of the options before the church are discussed openly as an issue that we must think about and attempt to understand each other. Therefore, the sole purpose of my workshop proposal was to lay out different options the church faces in its endeavor to understand and address the problem. My proposal was positively modified to include a panel of Baptists who would discuss the options together as a group, modeling the kind of conversation with of open agreement and disagreement that would emerge in any discussion.
Tupper suggested to CBF leadership that they hold the workshop in 2009 @ Houston instead of in Memphis (2008). Why? Apparently Memphis is a hotbed of Baptist fundamentalism and Houston is not? I didn’t know that. Although if the fear is fundamentalists, it’s kinda hard to avoid Baptist Press.
Tupper says that the workshop was then planned for the 2009 General Assembly in Houston.
Here’s Tupper:
A few months ago a group whose names I do not know decided that such a divisive issue could best be addressed in the local church rather than a workshop at the General Assembly. I disagreed with their decision, or I would never have made the workshop proposal for our annual meeting. If I had not been concerned for the environment and tone of the conversation, I never would have suggested we not do the workshop in Memphis but wait and convene it in Houston. I had thought (and still do): One of the ways that Baptist pastors and church ministers could introduce the conversation in their own church would be through material and conversation from a regular workshop in our June meeting. The pastor could refer to this workshop and panel if he or she thought it would be helpful. Otherwise, the minister must accept full responsibility for raising an issue not on a Baptist agenda anywhere. Although I regret the decision not to include the workshop this week in Houston, I am grateful to Dan Vestal and Bo Prosser for their patience and openness in the consideration of the viability of my proposal.
Read Tupper’s entire blog post here.
In a post entitled Talk of the Forbidden, Zach Roberts of the blog Baptimergent responds:
As a Cooperative Baptist minister I am not surprised by this. I am, however, disappointed.
I can appreciate to a certain point CBF’s justification that this is a local church conversation. That’s a very Baptist response. However, as Tupper argues in his post, creating space for church leaders to discuss it, and wrestle with how to bring the conversation before their congregations is the missing link in local church conversations about homosexuality, same-sex unions, and sexuality in general.
Read the rest here.
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Last year’s GA was marred by Killinger’s presence and I suspect this workshop would have overshadowed the rest of this year’s meeting.
Not there this year, hoping it will go well.
Hey Aaron,
Really enjoy reading your blog. I look forward to your coverage of the CBF.
Blessings,
Steve
There are fundamentalists in the CBF? Why wouldn’t they have just stayed in the SBC? Not that I’m complaining there are fewer fundies in the SBC mind you.
This seems to fit with the CBF’s avoidance of uncomfortable topics at Gen. Assembly–or, at least, that was the pattern until I stopped going in ‘02. I had a workshop in ‘00 on the death penalty and thought we did a good job with a controversial topic–and was asked never to do it again.
I think the leadership of the CBF reacts to the angry SBC meetings of the Controversy days by avoidance. Sad.
Brother BDW,
That would have been an interesting workshop. It is a topic that is misunderstood in the churches and increasing so.
Blessings,
Chris
goodness, the treatment Killinger received from CBF leadership, and now Tupper, not to mention Westmoreland-White’s experience, how much longer will it take CBF to morph fully as SBC?
As I’ve said before, I don’t quite fully understand Michael’s experience. There are many visible figures in CBF life that are anti-death penalty. I’ve been to workshops in the last handful of years where such views were espoused.
If you look at the list of workshops, one might argue that Tupper’s proposal did not fit this year’s theme. I don’t know. I suspect that CBF just wanted to avoid controversy but such conversations on controversial and divisive subjects are obviously needed.
from CBF concerning its conference theme: … where we’re all connected, one where Christ’s compassion extends to our neighbors ….
bapticus hereticus: how do we make that happen, what conversations do we need to have, etc.?
[...] can find the opening post here and the 4 different views presented (1,2,3,4). Big Daddy Weave and Baptimergent have also blogged about this [...]
[...] about homosexuality in a breakout session at the 2009 meeting (HT: Aaron Weaver, “The Workshop That Never Was“). In the aftermath, in response to the CBF’s decision as much as the SBC’s [...]
In response to BDW (”If you look at the list of workshops, one might argue that Tupper’s proposal did not fit this year’s theme.”), wasn’t the theme of the Assembly this year Embracing/Welcoming the Neighbor (or something to that effect)? There was so much talk among all the speakers about welcoming the strangers in our own neighborhood. One could assert (rightfully, I think) that GLBTQ persons are certainly strangers among many CBF churches.
It would appear to me, then, that such a topic would be most appropriate