A former president of the Southern Baptist Convention has warned churches that passing a women pastor amendment at this week’s annual convention could result in “collateral damage” and the loss of minority-led congregations.
The proposal, called the “Legal Amendment Proposal” after its lead proponent, would amend the SBC constitution to declare that churches are in friendly cooperation only if they “approve, ordain, or employ only men as pastors or elders of any kind in accordance with the qualifications established by Scripture.”
The denomination’s statement of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message, already contains similar language, saying, “Both men and women are gifted for service in the church, but the offices of pastor/elder/overseer are restricted to men in accordance with the qualifications set forth in Scripture.” This language was added in 2000.
Supporters of the legal change argue that the constitutional amendment is more binding on churches than the Baptist faith and message. Supporters say about 1,000 churches within the SBC employ female pastors.
The amendment passed last year but must be passed again by a two-thirds majority to become part of the SBC Constitution.
JD Greer, pastor of Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, said the new blog He said on his website that he opposes the change in the law even though his church is a complementarian and employs only male pastors. He served as SBC president from 2018 to 2021.
“My objection is that this bill seeks to rewrite the rules of cooperation and forcefully fix something that is not actually broken,” Greer wrote. “The bill assumes that what we currently have in place — the principles that define BFM and cooperation — are insufficient to address the deterioration of doctrine among the churches. … Moreover, egalitarianism has not permeated our structures; all of our institutions and state conferences embrace and practice complementarianism; and no major faction of the SBC disputes the clear and uncompromising affirmation of complementarianism in the BFM.”
Last year, the SBC’s mission voted to expel Saddleback Church, founded by Rick Warren, and another congregation for hiring a female pastor in violation of the Baptist Faith and Message.
“This ‘fix’ will have a lot of collateral damage,” Greer writes. “Though there are some differences in how complementarianism is applied, some churches have wholeheartedly embraced it, as some of our minority leaders (such as the National African American Federation and Pete Ramirez, executive director of the Southern Baptist Convention of California) have told us.”
“Ramirez asks us to leave the freedom to determine whether Hispanic Baptists refer to women in leadership roles as ‘pastors’ because they hold elder/overseership positions (and some may indeed fall into that category) or whether they do so because of linguistic traditions (as is the case with wives),” Greer writes.
“As to the former, we might recommend terminating the partnership,” Greer wrote. “As to the latter, we probably wouldn’t. Allowing that judgment seems wise. The language of this amendment would take that judgment away from us. And those who say we don’t have to abide by the Constitution (i.e., the Credentials Committee can choose not to enforce the Constitution on churches it deems in process) haven’t considered how our Constitution works. Legally, we are required to respect our governing documents. If a church violates the Constitution, legally, all of the Convention’s bodies and committees must respect the Constitution.”
The proposed change has divided the conference, including some of its most prominent leaders. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, supports the proposal, and he says the change has practical applications.
“Some churches have been very forthright in saying that they fundamentally disagree with the Southern Baptist Convention on issues related to women preaching and women in the pastorate,” Mohler said in an Instagram video. “I honestly think the only way for the Southern Baptist Convention to address this issue is to address it in some way, such as the constitutional amendment that was adopted and approved last year and now has been put before the Commission again, which I truly believe is very important.”
Mohler added, “Churches that disagree with us are free to associate with churches that fully agree with us. The Southern Baptist Convention has an equal right and responsibility to set the boundaries of our own cooperation.”
Messengers are scheduled to vote on the legislation on Tuesday.
Photo credit: ©JD Greear Facebook
Michael Faust He has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years, and his work has appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, Christian Post, Leaf Chronicle, Toronto Star and Knoxville News Sentinel.
