"Compromise" literally compromises the understanding of the family
From "Fort Worth church to include gay members' photos in directory" by Joanna Cattnatch, posted 2/25/08 at Dallasnews.com.
FORT WORTH – Broadway Baptist Church members reached a compromise on a church directory Sunday, ending a debate on how to include photos of gay members but leaving the pastor's fate unclear.
In a 294-182 vote, members approved a recommendation by the church's board of deacons to publish a directory that would include member photos in "candid, small and large group pictures" but not include family portraits.
The 125th anniversary pictorial directories "will identify the people in them by name and every effort will be made to include all members in the directory," the deacon board said in its recommendation.
The board said members recognize that there are differing opinions on what constitutes a family. The proposal, the board said, did not endanger the church's Baptist affiliations.
"This has been a difficult decision for our congregation," deacon chair Kathy Madeja said, reading a statement after the vote. "We believe we have approached it in the best way possible. We did not rush to make a decision. We tried not only to listen to each other, but to understand each other's opinions.
"We prayerfully searched for God's leading for our church."
Church members voted after a sermon by Pastor Brett Younger in which he asked parishioners to look people in the eye and question what they see and how they react.
"If we look into the eyes of a gay Christian, we may have to rethink some of our opinions," Mr. Younger said.
If there are differing opinions in this church's leadership about "what constitutes a family" this church has got bigger problems than which pictures go in the directory...
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