Paducah's Immanuel Baptist ousted by the Southern Baptist Convention

The Southern Baptist Convention's top administrative body voted Tuesday to oust four congregations - one in Paducah--for having a woman as senior minister, two others for what it said were failures related to the denomination's sexual-abuse policy and one for lack of financial participation.

The SBC's Executive Committee announced the decision after a closed-door session at the end of its two-day meeting in Nashville. 

On Tuesday, the committee ousted Paducah's Immanuel Baptist Church, whose senior minister is a woman. The SBC's official statement of faith says the office of pastor is open only to men.

Immanuel said in a Facebook statement that it affirmed its “decision to call Rev. Katie McKown to serve with and among us.” It cited Baptist tenets emphasizing the autonomy of congregations and individuals, and it offered prayers that the SBC “be blessed with wisdom and discernment as it moves forward.”

Each Southern Baptist church is independent, so the denomination can't tell churches what to do. But it can decide whether churches can be members or be ousted.

The committee also ousted Grove Road Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina; West Hendersonville Baptist Church in Hendersonville, North Carolina; and New Hope Baptist of Gastonia, North Carolina.

All four churches have the right of appeal to the full annual meeting of the SBC in June in Indianapolis.



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