DETROIT CITIZEN (Supplement to the Michigan Citizen) Week of Dec. 19-26, 1993 Page 7
over wom n 'pr
o and on
h
.ri·ft
•
mu
co
writer's gue s that prob­
ably most of the money
raised, or reported, in, the
Baptist Church is contrib­
uted by women.
The big issue arose af­
ter Mt. Carmel ordained a
woman deacon last March,
apparently the first and
only uch consecration
among chuches in the as­
sociation. The' woman in­
volved in the controversy
is a life-long member of
Mt. Carmel. She is single,
a medical doctor, and al­
though Cunningham was
not pastor when she was
ordained, he may have
readily approved of it.
BY ROBBIE CRUMP­
McCOY
It was reported by Theo
E. Sommerkamp of the
Nashville based, Southern
Baptist hess, that the Cin­
cinnati Baptist Associa- ,
tion has asked M t. Carm el
Baptist Church to report
back to the association rea­
sons for electing a woman
, deacon, rather than adopt­
ing an alternate for giving
recognition to women.
No deadline wa im­
posed for fulfilling the re­
quest, approved by an
84-59voteduring thea 0-
ciation's annual meeting in T HI
October. The request was g ne 0 far that the a 0-
non-punitive, although the ciation in tructed it' ere­
original motion, made by dential' c mmittee rep rt
Charle Sams, pa tor of I to the fall meeting "con- I
Pleasant Ridge Bapti t cerning the withdrawal or
Church, carried that threat, non _ fe 11 ow s hip wit h
Sommerkamp reported. churches that endorse the
He also reported that the pr actice of ordaining
association ignored a plea women as deacon ."
from Pastor Lance Cun- There are ordeals ofthi
ningham of Mt. Carmel nature right in our own
that "we move on and not
metropolitan community
face this i ue again." about women deacons and
It was also reported that ministers. In St. 'Loui ,
Mt. Carmel gives 4.5 per- Mo., an' a ociation 'of
cent of its budget income rn ini ter pi it becau e
to the a ociation. It is th orne did not advocate
helping to rai financ, I gan. I wa urpri ed one
paying tithe, frying day after arriving to peak,
chicken, spon oring fund- to learn that I wa not to
raisers and paying Brother enter the pulpit, and it wa
Pa tor a alary. Thi I have women,' day. So I proudly
no probl m with, for I to followed the doctrine of
have upported the pastor the pa t r, but when he re­
over the year and regard cently invited me to return'
most of them with high es- to that same church, I did
teem and respect. not accept, as we don't
I've had the privilege of eem to on the same ac-
being gue t peaker in ev- cord, even though we're
eral states and have alway both Bapti 1.
been treated with r pect,
with one xception how-
ever, right here in Michi-
ac
women preaching the gos­
pel and even went 0 far as
to withdraw their fellow­
ship from churches that in-
tailed women as
ministers.
I believe that if women
were the first to report that
Jesus had arisen from the
grave on Easter morning,
they must have had God's
approval to do something.
In spi te of the di en­
sion throughout the coun­
try, women go right on
erving in the church,
•
In
-
on
THE CITY OF
HIGHLAND PARK'S
ART AND CULTURE
COMMIIIEE
1".'-'
A peela' holiday t atl
Dec mber 29, 1993
.In t Highland Park Community 9011
Audltortum
rom 12 to p.m.
I. UMOJA - Unity
2. KUJlCHAGULlA-
Self Dctennination
3. UJIMA - collective work
and responsibility
4. UJAMAA -eooperarive
economics
S, NIA - purpose
6. KUUMBA - creativity
7, IMANI - faith