“One of the things I always say is, if you disagree with us, you’re welcome here,” Lambert said. “Not everybody can be a member here. But you are welcome here…First Baptist is not closing our doors to anybody. We are not shutting anybody out of love. We want to say, we love you and we care for you and you are welcome here.”
“Our statement doesn’t have any force of authority over anybody that chooses not to be in our congregation,” Lambert went on to say, nevertheless adding, “Every faithful church—and even lots of faithless churches—ask their members to believe things. It’s a 2,000-year-old reality in the church to have confessions, to have statements of faith that express what we believe.”
Lambert also emphasized that the statement was approved via congregational vote, not by his own unilateral authority, and it affirmed long held Christian teaching.
A number of people who approached the microphones expressed support for the statement, along with some who voiced their frustration. All told, the exchanges were remarkably civil.
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Among those who criticized the church was Katie, who identified herself as a queer member of the Jacksonville community, along with her partner, Dee. Katie expressed that she had been raised in a Southern Baptist Church.
Katie urged members of First Baptist Church to stop attending the church, arguing that by having members sign the statement, First Baptist “is no longer a religious place of worship welcomed to all. These sexuality oaths are drawing a clear line in the sand, showing us who you truly welcome, which is by no means ‘all.’”
In his response, Lambert thanked Katie for attending the event. Nevertheless, she apparently exited the room before he had the chance to respond directly to her criticism.
“What we’re going to have to do is we’re going to have to figure out a better definition of love than ‘you must agree with me on everything,’” Lambert said. “If love means ‘you must agree with me on everything,’ then we won’t be friends with anybody…There has to be room in love for folks to be able to say, ‘I disagree with you on this. Could we talk?’”
It was also later clarified in the course of the discussion that the statement was a “defensive measure” aimed at protecting the church from potential lawsuits filed by activist groups who could leverage a lack of clarity in the church’s stated beliefs to accuse them of illegal discrimination when, for example, not hiring a LGBTQ affirming staff member. Lambert noted that many other churches around the nation are thinking through similar measures.
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In response to the concern some members had expressed to him for choosing to hold the open forum, Lambert said, “Sometimes, when you’re a family, you just have to get everybody around the kitchen table and say, ‘Guys, let’s talk.’ So, here we are.”
