The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has failed to enshrine a ban on women as church pastors in its constitution. It needed a two thirds super-majority to pass the resolution at its annual meeting in Indianapolis, but fell short — with 61% of delegates supporting the measure.
Opponents argued it was an unnecessary measure because the denomination already has a way of ousting churches that assert women can serve as pastors. It still leaves the SBC with its official doctrinal statement saying the office of pastor is limited to men.
The majority of the more than 8,000 Southern Baptist delegates known as ‘messengers,’ who voted at the meeting, were left disappointed by the failure of the so-called Law Amendment to the church’s constitution to permanently ban women from serving as pastors.
Supporters believed the Law Amendment is Biblically necessary, estimating hundreds of Southern Baptist churches have 1,800 women in pastoral roles. Since the year 2000, the SBC’s non-binding statement of faith has declared that only men are qualified for the role of pastor. The Associated Press reports it’s interpreted differently across the denomination, with some believing it doesn’t apply to associate pastors so long as the senior pastor is male.
The rejected amendment would have said any church deemed in “friendly cooperation” — the official term for SBC affiliation — must be one that “affirms, appoints, or employs only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture.”
Ryan Fullerton, pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, said the measure is “not about preventing women from exercising their gifts” in the church, in roles on church staff such as “children’s ministers.” But he stressed the Bible is clear that the office of pastor is for men.
Opponents of the Law Amendment such as Baptist Women in Ministry which represents a coalition of women from multiple Baptist denominations, welcomed the result. It offered its “appreciation to all the messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) who voted against the Law Amendment BECAUSE of their commitment to support and affirm women serving as pastors of all kinds in the SBC.”
“We are grateful to churches and messengers represented at the SBC who came to send the message that women have equal value to God. We know that others voted against the amendment for other reasons, but we hope the message of your support for female pastors will be amplified,” it added.
The Christian Post noted the amendment reversed a preliminary vote which received far greater support when it was proposed by Pastor Mike Law of Arlington Baptist Church in Virginia at the SBC’s annual meeting a year ago. It passed with around 80% of the vote from more than 12,000 messengers.
Dr. Ed Stetzer, Dean of Theology at Biola University, told CBN News that: “By the amendment failing, it means there’s not a new rule in place that, for example, you can’t use the word pastor at any term, like children’s pastor, that a woman might be in. That tells you that the vast, vast majority of southern Baptists want to hold the line at a complementarian view.”
[They] are determined to abide by what the scripture says about the office of pastor,” said Lawrence Smith, one of the messengers and Communications Director for the Kentucky Baptist Convention.
The SBC also expelled the First Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia because it had a female pastor over women and children and believed women could also be a senior pastor. It deemed the church’s stance in conflict with the Baptist faith and message.
“Women have had a prominent role within the ministry and pastoral positions within the leadership of First Alexandria for over 44 years,” the expelled church’s pastor Robert Stephens said on the floor of the convention.
Last year, Southern Baptists refused to take back the Saddleback megachurch which was one of the convention’s largest congregations, and a small Kentucky church, because they had women in pastoral roles.
The SBC is the largest Protestant denomination in the US, with 50,000 churches and 14 million members.
Image: Screenshot – Facebook – SBC Executive Committee
