news-record.com

 Some of you wanted to know why the Pulpit Forum of Greensboro got involved with the termination of the Rev. F. Willis Johnson from Shiloh Baptist Church. The following statement was released Friday by the group, whose members (about a dozen) stood on the sidewalk in front of the church when it was read:

"Some may be wondering why the Pulpit Forum is having this press conference in front of a particular church, Shiloh Baptist Church. This is not out of character for us. In times past, we have made our way to those places where there was a concern. When it was government, we gathered at the Governmental Plaza. When it was K Mart, we made our way to the Super K. We did this to call public attention to something that we felt was wrong. Today, it happens to be a church that has acted more than once in ways that we find unacceptable in the body of Christ. We are not speaking in a mean spirited way today, but out of concern. Neither are we speaking out of an attitude of self-righteousness, but out of prophetic urgency. We are constrained to speak because to be silent any longer is, as MLK put it, to "butcher our own consciences." We stand to say that the unwarranted termination of Pastor Johnson may have this world's judicial approval, but it does not stand up under the light of eternity. The scriptures teach us in 2 Corinthians 5:18 that God has given us the ministry of reconciliation and the word of reconciliation."

It goes on to say that, "A church dilutes its influence when a few continue to splinter and split the congregation so that the people are confused and pitted against each other" and that "It saddens us that our courts would uphold such practices against pastoral leadership." It ended with the thought that,  "We will continue to pray for our brothers and sisters at Shiloh that the spirit that led to this action will be removed."

Full statement here:

http://mm.news-record.com/legacy/news/09/pulpitforum_071009.pdf