Myers Park Baptist deacon says board ousted senior minister without due process
The Rev. Ben Boswell has resigned as longtime senior minister at Myers Park Baptist Church, Board of Deacons chair Marcy McClanahan said in an email to the church community.
“Ousted” is more like it, board member Tim Emry said.
Boswell was fired during a “hastily scheduled” Zoom meeting on Sunday without “any sense of due process or fundamental fairness,” Emry said in an email to church members Monday night.
Emry announced his resignation from the board over Boswell’s departure and said he and his family are leaving Myers Park Baptist.
“This termination is rooted in the racist idea that there is too much of a focus on ‘racial justice,’” Emry wrote. “They have no plan for how to improve the church, they simply desire to take the church backwards and embrace whiteness.
“Make no mistake, this is about white comfort and an unease with living out the mission of the church,” Emry wrote. “In particular, the Statement on Racism Against African-Americans that was approved by a congregational vote in 2019.”
In her email, McClanahan said Boswell decided to resign “after prayerful consideration,” and offered no specifics. And in an interview with The Charlotte Observer later Tuesday, she said Emry’s assertions were inaccurate, and defended the process.
Boswell resigned effective on Monday after nine years in the post, McClanahan wrote in her email.
“This transition comes as part of Ben’s personal discernment and our shared commitment to the long-term health and future of MPBC,” McClanahan wrote. “Guided by our faith and dedication to God’s work, I trust that this change will allow us to continue building a sustainable and thriving path forward for our church, honoring our mission of inclusivity, spirituality, justice, and community.”
Myers Park Baptist, founded in 1943, is one of the more progressive churches in Charlotte. The church was ejected from the state Baptist Convention in 2007 for opening its doors to LGBTQ people. Boswell, who is white, has encouraged the church to take an anti-racist stance.
Boswell, who became the church’s youngest leader when he took the job in 2015 at age 35, declined to comment when reached by The Charlotte Observer on Tuesday.
Supporters of Boswell in the congregation are asking the Board of Deacons for a meeting after the Sunday worship service so they can express themselves. If a meeting isn’t scheduled, the members might take a “collective action” during the service.
McClanahan thanked Boswell in her email.
“Under his leadership, the church has grown in our commitment to social justice, engaged in meaningful and in-depth discussions on many significant issues, and strengthened our identity as a progressive and inclusive congregation,” McClanahan wrote.
“His vision and passion have been a blessing to our community and have left an indelible mark on our church and its members,” McClanahan said.
The church plans a celebration of Boswell’s ministry and a love offering in his honor at a date to be announced, McClanahan said.
Emry says some members ‘performatively liberal’
Board of Deacons members reportedly received an email from McClanahan around noon Saturday about an emergency confidential meeting on Sunday, Emry said in an interview with The Observer.
The church’s council — made up of church leaders and some Board of Deacons members — voted at 2 p.m. to terminate Boswell, Emry said. The board approved the termination a few hours later, he said.
“They said it is not in response to any one incident,” Emry said. “They said three things: that church attendance has been declining, that church giving has been declining, and that … morale is low.”
But church attendance and giving has been a systemic problem for all churches, Emry said. Myers Park is not an exception.
He said he doesn’t think the stated reasons are the actual reasons for Boswell’s termination. During the Sunday meeting, he said, McClanahan allegedly made a comment about Boswell being given chances to change his words and actions to “appeal to a broader audience.”
“That struck me as heavily coded language,” Emry said. “There’s a lot of old white people at that church who are performatively liberal, who, when push comes to shove, aren’t comfortable talking about racial justice, aren’t comfortable with his course in confronting whiteness, aren’t comfortable with trans folks.”
Despite attracting members from suburbs like Davidson or Ballantyne, where Emry and his wife live, some longtime church members still view it as a small neighborhood church and feel a sense of ownership over what should be preached, Emry said.
He said he and his wife joined a few years ago after trying to find a church that aligned with their beliefs.
Disagreement on future of church
McClanahan couldn’t share details about Boswell’s departure because human resources matters at the church are confidential, she said in an interview with The Charlotte Observer Tuesday, but the decision was made to, “ask Ben to mutually separate from us.”
“All I can tell you is that the board and Rev. Boswell disagreed on the future of the church,” McClanahan said.
She said she disagreed with Emry’s assessment that the decision to split with Boswell was rushed.
“Tim has not been privy to the conversation, so no, this has been an ongoing discussion, and we followed all of the proper processes,” she said. “It was not a hasty decision, in the least.”
She said she also disagreed with Emry’s characterization that Boswell’s anti-racist positions played any role in the decision.
“I’ll tell you, on a personal level, it is incredibly insulting that Tim said that,” McClanahan said. “I have a brown son.”
She said she was sensitive to the concerns Emry raised, but that his assertions about the church were inaccurate.
When asked if she was concerned how membership might be impacted by controversy surrounding Boswell’s sudden departure, McClanahan said she was embracing it, expecting to come out stronger afterwards.
“Our covenant states that we will accept controversy as a reality in life together and an opportunity for growth toward maturity,” she said. “Our church is much more than any one person. Our church is a group of individuals who have come together looking at justice, inclusivity, community and spirituality.”
Those four areas “will be prioritized when searching and hiring a new reverend,” she said.
She declined to comment when asked if Boswell failed to uphold those four areas, or could have upheld them better. She also declined to say if the church worked with Boswell about areas for improvement.
“I have the utmost respect for Ben’s preaching,” McClanahan said. “He is one of the great prophetic preachers in our country.”
This story was originally published November 26, 2024 at 10:41 AM.