By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League
RALEIGH – Congregations associated with the N.C. Council of Churches should decide whether they’ll follow Biblical principles and leave the organization or stay and align themselves with the council’s newly chosen homosexual leader.
The organization, which includes 17 denominations and eight individual churches, has given the post of president to Stan Kimer, a 55-year-old lay-leader in the Metropolitan Community Church, made up mainly of gays and lesbians.
“This is a perfect example of the demise of our churches,” said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League. “Instead of disciplining a man for his immorality, his sin is ignored and he’s elevated to a place of leadership.“
“Churches associated with the NC Council of Churches should get out.”
Although the Council of Churches touts its goal of promoting Christian unity, many in the faith community see the move to elevate Kimer as anything but unifying.
“All major branches of the Christian church — the Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox, the evangelicals, the African-Americans, the historic Protestant denominations for the most part — agree that God’s standard of sexual morality is the marriage of man and woman and that homosexual relationships are not in accord with Christian teaching,” said Alan Wisdom of the Institute on Religion and Democracy. However, the Metropolitan Community Church affirms homosexuality.
According to the Charlotte Observer, the Council added the Metropolitan Community Churches to its roster of cooperating denominations via a controversial vote in 1993. Wisdom said the Council’s choice of a homosexual leader is not its first move toward an agenda not held in common by Christians.
“It has pushed liberal positions on issues like immigration and the death penalty where there is not consensus among Christians,” he told One News Now, “but this is a further step in that same direction.”
A member of St. John’s MCC since 1991, Kimer has been involved in the Council since 1995. A retired IBM executive, he now runs his own consulting practice offering services and training in diversity management including GLBT (Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender) issues. Even so, he told the Observer that his agenda is broader than sexual issues.
As president, Kimer will lead a 35-member governing board that sets the council’s direction on everything from racial equality and health care to immigrant rights and environmental issues.
Members of the N.C. Council of Churches include representative congregations and districts from a number of mainline Protestant denominations (Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church USA, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church), as well as from the Roman Catholic Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Mennonite Church USA, and some independent Baptist churches. For a complete list, see www.nccouncilofchurches.org/about/members.
“We urge Christians across the state to verify whether their church is a member and if so to challenge church leaders to leave this organization which has chosen to endorse a lifestyle contrary to what the Bible teaches,” said the Rev. Creech.
“When water remains on the outside of the boat, the boat floats. But when it gets inside the boat, the boat sinks,” he added. “Worldliness inside the church is its greatest threat.”