• Contact Us
  • Classifieds
  • About
  • Home

Pathway

Missouri Baptist Convention's Official News Journal

  • Missouri
    • MBC
    • Churches
    • Institutions & Agencies
    • Policy
    • Disaster Relief
  • National
    • SBC Annual Meeting
    • NAMB
    • SBC
    • Churches
    • Policy
    • Society & Culture
  • Global
    • Missions
    • Multicultural
  • Columnists
    • Wes Fowler
    • Ben Hawkins
    • Pat Lamb
    • Rhonda Rhea
    • Rob Phillips
  • Ethics
    • Life
    • Liberty
    • Family
  • Faith
    • Apologetics
    • Religions
    • Evangelism
    • Missions
    • Bible Study & Devotion
  • E-Edition

More results...

DECATUR, Ga. – Charlie Fuller, chairman of the CBF's Illumination Project Committee, presents a report to the CBF General Assembly June 29. BP Photo

CBF nixes ‘absolute’ LGBT hiring ban, maintains it for leaders

February 20, 2018 By The Pathway

DECATUR, Ga. (BP) – The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s Governing Board has voted to lift the Fellowship’s “absolute prohibition” of hiring homosexual and transgender employees.

But CBF “leadership positions in ministry” and missionary roles still will be limited to individuals “who practice a traditional Christian sexual ethic of celibacy in singleness or faithfulness in marriage between a woman and man,” according to a hiring “implementation procedure” also adopted by the Governing Board. Other positions will be open to “Christians who identify as LGBT.”

The new hiring policy and implementation procedure – adopted today (Feb. 9) at a CBF Governing Board meeting in Decatur, Ga. – replace the previous CBF hiring policy, which prohibited “the purposeful hiring of a staff person or the sending of a missionary who is a practicing homosexual.”

The 16-member Governing Board’s vote is binding and does not require approval by the annual CBF General Assembly.

The policy change was recommended by a seven-member Illumination Project Committee appointed in 2016 to chart a unified path forward for the CBF amid diverse views on human sexuality.

The CBF was founded in 1991 as a fellowship of churches that objected to the ideology and methods of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Conservative Resurgence.

CBF Executive Coordinator Suzii Paynter underscored CBF leaders’ intent to unify the Fellowship.

“CBF is moving from a hiring policy focused exclusively on sexuality to a policy that focuses on Jesus and His work to transform the world,” Paynter said according to a CBF news release. According to the Illumination Project Committee’s 43-page report, the new hiring policy – which does not mention human sexuality – and the implementation policy are intended to reflect the faith and practice of CBF churches.

“The overwhelming majority of our congregations do not have policy statements or proclamations focused on matters of human sexuality, either in a congregationally adopted hiring policy or in other places,” the committee stated. “In proposing a hiring policy that does not include treatment of matters of human sexuality, we believe we are reflecting and respecting not only what we have heard from our autonomous local congregations, but also what we see in their lives.”

The report adds, however, “at this time in CBF life, less than a handful of our congregations have called pastors who identify as LGBT. Likewise, in the implementation of the hiring policy, the CBF office in Decatur will reflect the actual practice of most of our congregations.”

The full Illumination Project Committee report is available on the CBF website. 

Comments

Featured Videos

Lick Creek Fellowship - A Story of Cooperation

A declining rural church faced closure after years of dwindling attendance and aging members. But after the doors closed, a small group stepped in to build something fresh from its legacy. Watch this video to hear this story of cooperation and new life.

Find More Videos

Trending

  • Eight resolutions proposed for 2025 SBC Annual Meeting

  • IMB trustees appoint new missionaries, elect first woman chair

  • HLGU’s ‘Freedom on the Inside’ celebrates first class of graduates inside Missouri prison

  • Missouri lawmakers approve bill allowing school chaplains

  • Tornado strikes St. Louis, Missouri Baptists quick to respond

  • Southern Baptists to vote on Business and Financial Plan that emphasizes trustee governance

Ethics

Supreme Court unanimously sides with Catholic Charities in religious liberty case

Timothy Cockes

The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that a Catholic benevolent ministry qualifies for a tax exemption granted to churches.

Pro-life, pro-adoption bill awaits Missouri governor’s signature

Timothy Faber

More Ethics Stories

Missouri

SBU to host higher ed panel at 2025 SBC annual meeting

Southwest Baptist University

Southwest Baptist University will be hosting an expert panel of higher education leaders at the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Dallas to discuss the value of and challenges facing Christian colleges and universities.

Copyright © 2025 · The Pathway