Baptist Church Calls Transgender Pastor

Erica Saunders recently lead her first service at the Peace Community Church in Oberlin, Ohio.

“Members of an Ohio congregation are inviting the community to a Sept. 8 worship service officially welcoming one of the few openly transgender Baptist ministers as their new pastor. Erica Saunders, a 2019 graduate of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity ordained to the gospel ministry this spring by Wake Forest Baptist Church, began July 1 as pastor of Peace Community Church in Oberlin, Ohio. Founded in 1866 as the First Baptist Church of Oberlin, the congregation today describes itself as a ‘small, but active and social action-oriented congregation’ that is ‘very involved’ in the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, the Alliance of Baptists and the American Baptist Churches of the Rochester/Genesee Region. The pastoral search committee said in a letter to church members that the group received 16 candidates to replace the couple and narrowed the field to five and eventually down to a final two. ‘Both candidates were very strong candidates, but Erica stood out as a candidate with unique strengths,’ the search team said. ‘Bright, compassionate, faith-filled and spirit-led with a loving presence, she showed as much interest in each of us as we did in her. At the end of our time together on Sunday, when we formed a circle and said a departing prayer, I think we felt and she felt a sense of calling to our church.’ ‘With God’s help, together we can follow the example of Christ and create a beloved community marked by abiding peace, expansive love and radical justice in Oberlin and beyond,’ said Saunders, one of the first openly trans individuals to be ordained by a Baptist church in the United States. The church, which adopted the name Peace Community Church in 2000, decided by consensus to welcome and affirm LGBTQ persons in 2005.”

“Baptist Church Makes History,” Baptist News Global, Aug. 23, 2019

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