New Hope Baptist Church — Church Directory

Quick Facts

Pastor — the shepherd God holds accountable Verify

Founded Verify

Denomination SBC (disfellowshipped 2024)

Service Times Sunday Worship — verify times on website

Men's Ministry No

Kids Ministry Yes

Website nhbc-gastonia.org

10-Point Theological Scorecard

Christology

Is Jesus the only way? (John 14:6)

Mainline Baptist orthodox confession

Caution

Scripture

Inerrancy affirmed? Final authority?

Public statement: 'We believe in equality in ministry and we do not discriminate between genders' — explicit egalitarian reading rejecting SBC complementarian exegesis of 1 Tim 2:12

WARNING!

Men's Discipleship

Intentional formation for men?

No documented complementarian men's structure

WARNING!

Soteriology

Faith alone? How is salvation presented?

Generally Baptist evangelical, CBF-aligned

Caution

Gender / Biblical Design

Biblical manhood and womanhood by God's design — patriarchal, complementarian, egalitarian, or affirming gender ideology?

One of four Gaston County churches that ordain women into ministry as deacons and pastors

Church publicly affirms ordination of women as deacons and pastors; specific staff-pastor names unverified pending website rebuild.

WARNING!

Leadership Structure

Male elders/pastors? Accountability?

Egalitarian polity in conflict with BF&M 2000 Article VI

WARNING!

Preaching Style

Expository or topical/therapeutic?

Open pulpit for ordained women

WARNING!

Mission Clarity

Great Commission central?

Cooperative giving redirected away from SBC channels for at least five years prior to disfellowship

Caution

Cultural Alignment

DEI/CRT language? Social justice crowding out gospel?

Progressive on gender-role question; CBF dual-alignment signals broader moderate-mainline drift

WARNING!

Accountability Structure

Denominational home, elder plurality, or external network — is the pastor answerable to anyone?

Disfellowshipped by SBC Executive Committee Feb 20, 2024 for 'lack of reported financial participation for at least the last five (5) years and its lack of intent to cooperate to resolve a question of faith and practice' — the question of faith and practice being its egalitarian gender stance

WARNING!

Assessment

New Hope Baptist Gastonia was formally disfellowshipped by the SBC Executive Committee on February 20, 2024 over its egalitarian gender-in-ministry stance and five-year absence from Cooperative Program giving. The church's own website states 'We believe in equality in ministry and we do not discriminate between genders' and identifies New Hope as one of four Gaston County congregations that ordain women into ministry as deacons and pastors. Dual-aligned with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship; left SBC at the local-association level in May 2023 before the EC action.

#sbc#drift#female-pastor#credentials-committee-referral#disfellowshipped-2024#egalitarian#nc#gastonia#needs-review

MOOP Engagement Tracker

How this church was personally verified by the MOOP directory team:

✓ Researched church website

Sources & Evidence

Enrichment Notes

Disfellowshipped by SBC Executive Committee Feb 20, 2024. Sister cohort to Immanuel Baptist Paducah KY. Website was undergoing rebuild as of mid-2025; staff list unavailable, but pastoral-egalitarian commitment publicly stated. Distinct from existing 'First Baptist Church Gastonia NC' record.

These are the URLs consulted to arrive at this church's scoring. Score-note claims are synthesized from homepage content, denominational directories, and public statements of faith at the time of review. Church websites change frequently; we're progressively adding Internet Archive snapshots to prevent link rot.

[1] Live source nhbc-gastonia.org
[2] Live source baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/executive-committe…
[3] Live source christianpost.com/news/sbc-disfellowships-church-with-wom…
[4] Live source faithstreet.com/church/new-hope-baptist-church-gastonia-nc

Transparency note: MOOP ratings are researcher judgments about publicly available theological and ecclesial evidence. They are not infallible. If a church's public posture has changed since our review, or if we've mis-read evidence, tell us — we publish corrections.