A Baptist church in Arkansas has revoked the membership of a young man after learning that he publicly embraced the homosexual lifestyle:
CHRISTIANITY TODAY – Dylan Settles has published a letter from his church board informing him his name had been removed from the membership list. The note, which has been shared thousands of times on Facebook, urged the 20-year-old to leave his “sinful lifestyle.”
“It has come to the attention of the Church body that you have made it known publicly, of your choice, to embrace the homosexual lifestyle,” the letter began.
“While we understand the struggles we all face with sin in our lives, we must also be aware of the consequences of our choices,” read the letter from the church board.
Settles had been attending Woods Chapel General Baptist Church in Brookland, Arkansas, for six years.
“We as the church board … have with great sorrow voted to remove your name immediately from the church membership role,” the letter read.
The letter finishes with an invitation to return to the church, on the basis he renounce his gay lifestyle and receive counselling.
“It is the desire of your church family you would turn from the sinful lifestyle you have chosen, repent of the sins you have committed and return to full fellowship with God and the church body,” the letter adds.
Here’s the letter from the church:
I think it’s rare for churches to make moves like this, but it seems to me that they handled it pretty well. I think a meeting would have been more appropriate at least to lead off with, and then a revocation of the membership if said member refuses to repent and turn from the homosexual lifestyle.
But in the end, in order to protect the church I think this had to be done. In Revelation 2 God clearly took issue with the church of Thyatira for allowing a sexually immoral woman to teach and seduce HIS servants into sexual immorality. In order to protect the church, they should have kicked her out as this Baptist church has done.