- The Southern Baptist Convention narrowly rejected a proposal to include a clause in its constitution that would have banned churches from having female pastors.
- The proposal received 61% of the vote, but did not meet the two-thirds majority requirement.
- Official church doctrine still restricts the pastoral profession to men, a position supported by opponents of the constitutional ban.
Southern Baptists on Wednesday narrowly rejected a proposal to add a provision to their constitution that would have banned churches with female pastors, with opponents arguing the provision was unnecessary because the church already has the tools to exclude such churches.
The vote received support from 61 percent of delegates, but fell short of the two-thirds supermajority needed. The action reversed a preliminary vote last year that had supported a formal ban.
But the Southern Baptist Convention still has an official doctrinal statement that the pastoral ministry is restricted to men, and even opponents of the ban said they agreed with that doctrinal statement but didn’t see the need to reinforce it in the Constitution.
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Opponents pointed out that the SBC already can exclude churches that say women can serve as pastors, as it did last year and again on Tuesday night.
Emissaries stand during worship during the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in Indianapolis on June 11, 2024. The Southern Baptist Convention on Wednesday narrowly rejected a proposal to include a ban on churches with female pastors in the denomination’s constitution, with opponents arguing the provision was unnecessary because the denomination already has the means to exclude such churches. (AP Photo/Doug McSchuler)
The vote, reflecting a long-running debate within the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, was perhaps the most anticipated of the annual meeting, held on the final day of the Southern Vatican Society’s two-day annual meeting in Indianapolis.
Since 2000, the SBC’s nonbinding confession of faith has declared that only men are eligible for the role of pastor. This is interpreted differently across denominations, with some believing it doesn’t apply to associate pastors as long as the senior pastor is male.
The amendment, which received tentative approval last year, would formally exempt churches that have or allow women to serve in pastoral roles, from senior pastor to associate pastor. Supporters believe the amendment is biblically necessary and estimate that hundreds of Southern Baptist churches have women in such positions.
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The rejected amendment would have stipulated that a church considered to be in “friendly association,” the official name for SBC affiliation, must be one that “recognizes, ordains, or employs only men as pastors or elders of any kind, in accordance with the qualifications established by Scripture.”
Opponents argued that the convention already has the power to exclude churches on the issue and that the amendment would have unintended consequences, including disproportionately affecting black Southern Baptist congregations, many of which have female pastors.
However, the motion was quickly put to a vote after a short debate.
The Rev. Ryan Fullerton of Immanuel Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, said the bill “does not prevent women from using their talents in the church as children’s pastors or other church officials. But the Bible is clear that the pastorate is for men,” he said.
He said there is “confusion about gender” in the culture at large, and cited the so-called “subversion of the LGBTQIA agenda” as an example.
But Spence Shelton, pastor of Mercy Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, argued that’s unnecessary.
He said there’s no question that Southern Baptists are “complementarian,” describing the belief that men and women have equal value but different roles and complement each other.
But he noted that the convention approved the expulsion of a historic church in Virginia on Tuesday and two other churches last year, including the California megachurch Saddleback, all of which had female pastors and recognized that women could hold the highest-ranking pastoral positions.
The reason for expelling them is that they do not have beliefs and practices that are consistent with Baptist Faith and Teaching, a document approved in 2000 that includes the affirmation that the pastoral office is open only to men.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve demonstrated that the mechanisms that we currently have in place are sufficient to address this issue,” Shelton said.
Mike Rowe, pastor of Arlington Baptist Church in Virginia and author of the amendment, cited reports that his denomination has about 1,800 female pastors. He cited a passage of the Bible that limits the pastorate to men.
“Although this prohibition may be considered harsh in our culture, our God is all-knowing and He wrote it for the prosperity of both men and women,” he said.
“This amendment is not about women clergy,” Law added. “It’s specifically about women in the pastoral ministry.” He did not spell out the difference in his brief speech.
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Denominations cannot tell independent churches what to do or who to appoint as pastors, but they can dictate which churches will participate and which will not.
Last year, Southern Baptists refused to return one of the convention’s largest churches, Saddleback, as well as a small church in Kentucky, over the issue.
Both churches, where women held the highest-ranking pastoral positions, appealed for expulsion at their annual conference in 2023, but delegates overwhelmingly rejected the appeal. A similar situation played out in Indianapolis on Tuesday, when delegates voted overwhelmingly to expel the First Baptist Church of Alexandria, Virginia, which had maintained that women hold assistant positions and that women can hold the highest-ranking positions.
Supporters of the amendment say it probably won’t lead to a large-scale purge anytime soon, but critics worry it will burden SBC volunteers and employees with numerous investigations into churches.
Delegates also elected a North Carolina pastor and longtime denominational politician as the next conference speaker after two runoff elections among six candidates.
Clint Pressley, senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, will become the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention after winning 56% of the vote in the runoff election.
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The SBC president is one of the most visible faces of the conservative evangelical church network, presiding over the annual meeting and appointing members to the denomination’s committees.
Pressley’s closest opponent, Tennessee pastor Dan Spencer, received 44 percent of the vote after four other candidates dropped out in earlier ballots.
Pressley said she supports a bill to vote later Wednesday on an SBC constitutional amendment that would ban churches from having female pastors.
Pressley earned a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisiana, one of the official seminaries of the Southern Baptist Church, and has led Hickory Grove since 2011 after serving as pastor of churches in Alabama and Mississippi. Pressley served as first vice president of the Southern Baptist Church from 2014 to 2015 and has also served on the boards of numerous other denominations.
Messengers early Wednesday rejected a proposal to eliminate the SBC’s public policy body, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, a move that reflected the view of some that the staunchly conservative commission is not conservative enough.
