First Baptist Church of Decatur kicked out of local baptist association over LGBTQ views

This article originally appeared in Decaturish on February 10, 2020.

Decatur, GA – First Baptist Church of Decatur recently learned that the Atlanta Metro Baptist Association expelled the church from its ranks over its decision to appoint gay, lesbian and transgender members to church leadership positions.

Jimmy Baughcum, Executive Director with the Atlanta Metro Baptist Association, declined to comment on the matter but noted that the church hadn’t sent a representative to the association’s meetings in two years.

First Baptist Senior Pastor David Jordan said claims that the church hasn’t participated in two years are a “total smokescreen” for the real reason the church has been expelled.

“There are plenty of churches who don’t affiliate at all, and they don’t kick them out,” Jordan said.

Jordan said the church does receive its nonprofit status through the Metro Baptist Association, but will now obtain it via the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Georgia, a more moderate group. Jordan noted that First Baptist Church of Decatur was one of the earliest members of the Metro Baptist Association and joined in 1910. The association is comprised of a network of Baptist churches helping each other with various needs, like assisting people moving in from faraway places or providing other Baptist churches with extra supplies. He said some groups like Metro Baptist Association have become more conservative of late, hardening their rules about who could or could not participate in them.

He said in May the Metro Baptist Association updated its bylaws to be specific about same-sex marriage and other LGBTQ issues…