| 1973 | Executive Committee session report on homosexuality in the church and a motion passed “to place on the August agenda of the Senate discussion of ‘The Relation of the Gay Community to the Church’ and that part of the discussion be concerned with the possibility of holding a conference on the issue.” Senate voted to discuss the matter at the next meeting. |
| 1974 | Senate considered “the Ohio Resolution on Gay Ordination” and referred the matter to the Executive Committee, which led to the creation of two task forces. |
| 1975 | Senate heard report, discussed, voted: “Knowing that as Christians we do not have a perfect understanding of the will of God, but that under guidance of the Holy Spirit we constantly seek to interpret the scriptures as our rule of faith and practice, we urge that all persons who meet denominational standards for ordination, including same-sex oriented persons who believe that they are called of God to Christian ministry, be given the privilege of appearing before an ordination council. We, as the Ministers Council, must take the position that we are not authorized to recommend anyone for ordination. We urge the local church to request an ordination council based on the will of the congregation, and we further urge each ordination council to evaluate each candidate on his/her demonstration of his/her call to the Christian ministry” (31 affirmative, 13 negative, 1 abstention). |
| 1976 | Senate discussed statements brought from various constituent Councils and voted: “Recognizing that in our American Baptist polity the local church ordains; and realizing that the Ministers Council is not directly involved in the process of recognition of ordination; yet believing that our judgment can be beneficial to local churches and ordination councils, we resolve that: we believe the practice and advocacy of homosexual activity to be incompatible with Christian principles and grounds for denial of ordination; we also affirm that past homosexual practices, when disavowed, should not be a barrier to ordination( (25 affirmative, 21 negative). |
| 1979 | Senate responded to a letter from a recent seminary graduate with the following motion: “that we write [him] indicating that we have received his letter and considered it and that we have mixed and differing feelings with no consensus.” A second motion, “that the Executive Committee continue to look into the issues, conditions, and understandings as they regard the ordination of homosexuals,” failed to pass. |
| 1995 | MC and BNM sponsored pre-Biennial event, "Dialogue on Biblical Authority/Interpretation"
|
| 1995 | Senate panel of four persons on different stances toward homosexuality arising from their different life journeys, "My Story, My Journey, My Faith" |
| 1996 | Senate dialogue: Manfred Brauch and Bill Herzog, “Biblical Interpretation and Homosexuality,” produced as video and manuscripts; discussion within Senate committees and plenary; consensus not to take a vote but to move forward in focus on the mission of strengthening ministerial leadership |
| 1997 | Compiled Biennial American Baptist Quarterly, "Holding on to the Gospel and Each Other" |
| 1998 | Convened Common Ground dialogue meeting of executive committee members of American Baptist Evangelicals and Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists |
| 1999 | Initiated Des Moines Biennial theme of Jubilee in the hope of healing the field of our common life so that new seed bring new life Sponsored pre-Biennial, "Substantive Dialogue: A Tool for Congregations Dealing with Potentially Divisive Issues Without Becoming Divided," with Common Ground facilitator Adrienne Kaufmann |