Another Baptist church in Charlotte voted Sunday to quit the increasingly conservative Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

The pastor of Sardis Baptist Church said his flock considers a new convention rule forbidding member churches to affirm homosexual behavior to be a violation of local church freedom, a principle Baptists hold dear.

"We're not leaving mad or upset: We're leaving because we think they crossed the line," the Rev. Tim Moore said.

"In Baptist policy, each church is autonomous. You can say the Catholic 'Church' or the Presbyterian 'Church,' but you can't say Baptist 'Church.' It's churches plural," Moore said. "Each church calls its own minister and chooses its own membership. No one can tell it what to do."

The exodus, which will become effective at the end of the year, will require two members of the church to give up their seats on boards that govern North Carolina colleges still affiliated with the Baptist State Convention.

Moore is a member of the board of trustees at Mars Hill College near Asheville; Sardis Baptist member Don Hill sits on the board at Wingate University in Union County.

Reached for reaction Sunday, John Butler, a top official at the Cary-based Baptist State Convention, said the convention regrets Sardis Baptist's decision to "break ties" and appreciates the church's "long history with us" in providing financial contributions, volunteers and cooperation on ministries.

"We have no animosity toward [Sardis Baptist], but we do have to abide by our bylaws [against homosexual behavior]," said Butler, former pastor of First Baptist Church of Matthews and now the Baptist State Convention's executive leader for business services.

"We have to decide who to affiliate with ... and we are uncomfortable with churches that embrace or affirm homosexuality, which we do not believe is an appropriate lifestyle for Christians."

Three months ago

Sunday's action comes three months after similar votes by Charlotte's St. John's Baptist and Park Road Baptist. At the convention's November meeting in Greensboro, most of the 3,500 participants OK'd an amendment that read: "Among churches not in friendly cooperation with the convention are churches which knowingly act to affirm, approve, endorse, promote, support or bless homosexual behavior."

Before that amendment, the state convention -- with 1.2 million members and 4,080 churches -- had required only that members support the group through cooperation and financial contributions.

For a church to be expelled, two people must complain to the state convention. That could trigger an investigation.

Butler said Sunday that the convention is OK with churches opening their doors to homosexuals -- as long as the churches also encourage those who engage in same-sex relations "to repent of that sin."

Sardis Baptist has 150 members on its rolls, but only 50 of them were present to vote Sunday.

Moore said an amendment to sever church ties with the Baptist State Convention effective Dec. 31 was approved by 95 percent of those voting.

"We are a congregation that would welcome anybody," he said. "If they come seeking Jesus Christ, we welcome them. ... We don't think an outside group [like the Baptist State Convention] has the right to tell us to exclude anybody."