Wayne Ford/ Morris News Service
Genora H. Biggs
The letter, which is not signed and was hand delivered to the Athens Banner-Herald, also accused Genora H. Biggs of trying to have the church pastor, the Rev. Timothy Mattox, replaced by another minister.
The ouster of Biggs from the church roll has attracted national attention in the news and social media.
The members of Union Grove, which apparently numbers less than 20, voted in August to revoke Biggs membership in the church, where she had been a member for 92 years. She has previously been an officer of the church and her father was one of its founding members.
“It was determined by the congregation during a church conference meeting, which Mrs. Biggs was present at the time of the meeting, that the behavior of Mrs. Biggs and others was detrimental to the church at large and could no longer be allowed,” according to the statement.
The letter did not describe the type behavior attributed to Biggs.
Church Deacon Glen Jackson said earlier that individual members would not comment.
Besides Biggs, the church also revoked the memberships of Elberton residents Kerry Hamm and Shirley Fortson, both who have accompanied Biggs to Sunday services even though Biggs was told earlier to stay off church grounds.
According to the letter, the members have “permitted” Biggs to attend services on Sunday since her ouster, but she will not be allowed in any church business meetings.
Biggs’ grandson, Elliott Dye, said Thursday the family did not want to comment.
Biggs said in an earlier interview that she disapproved of the direction of the church under Mattox, whom she described as a holiness preacher. Union Grove has been Baptist throughout its history and she said she wants it to continue in that vein.
In recent years, many longtime members have left the church because of the discord, but Biggs said she was not leaving and still considers herself a member. She attended the Sunday service last weekend.
My Comment: If Flannery O'Connor were still living what a novel she could make out of this! Church life is always interesting and exciting and quite damnable at times!
5 comments:
While I'm impressed by her longevity, I really don't care what happens there.
I think it is interesting to see how social groups solve problems and can serve as a case study for Catholics to help build models for group problem solving for themselves.
Seriously, who cares? Some protestant off-shoot that probably preaches pure heresy from the pulpit every Sunday. Please...
Calvin of Hippo: "Seriously, who cares?" Calvin of Hippo only cares about Calvin of Hippo.
No, Calvin of Hippo cares about things that matter...like trolls on the blog.
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