An Albany church was thrown out of the Mallary Baptist Association because of what the association labeled "unchristian racism."
The predominately white Raleigh White church has shared the same building with predominately black New Seasons Church and racial issues between the two came to a head Tuesday night.
After a long meeting, representatives from the 51 Southern Baptist Churches decided to disassociate from Raleigh White Baptist Church
"Because of their unchristian like and quite frankly racist attitudes toward a sister church in our association," said Hans Wunch with Mallary Baptist Association.
Mallary held the meeting because of racial disputes between Raleigh White and New Seasons Church, both of which share the same building.
"Every relationship between churches and other bodies is an at-will relationship," said Wunch.
What this means for Raleigh White is they can worship however they see fit but they will no longer be in conjunction with the Southern Baptist Convention as well as the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.
"We want to come together and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with a lost and dying world and that cannot mean one race within our community.It has to mean every single race," said Wunch.
But because they are sharing the building with New Seasons, Mallary would like to help New Seasons find another place to worship.
The pastor of New Seasons said they will continue to see how the partnership plays out after this decision but hopes to mend the relationship.
"The Bible teaches us to always be ready for reconciliation. We're praying for our sister church and we're praying that at some point in time that we can come back together and mend our differences and continue to do ministry in the community," said Marcus Glass, Pastor of New Seasons.
WALB News 10 reached out to Raleigh White Baptist Church leadership, but their representative said they had no comment at this time.
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