As the pastor of an SBC church, I often have to field questions from folks in our church who have “seen something online” or a headline about actions the Southern Baptist Convention is taking. Because next week’s SBC Annual Meeting in Orlando promises to make headlines once again, I decided to write a post for our members – the people in the pews at Lakeside and members of any other SBC church who may be readers. The main issue that will provoke headlines involves a proposed amendment to the SBC constitution regarding female pastors. Two caveats right off the bat: 1. This post is going to be LONG because understanding these issues takes some explanation. 2. This post is NOT written for SBC pastors or denominational employees. It’s written for the folks in the pews of my church (and any others that may read) so that they understand what is going on and cut through the (great) load of misinformation that is out there. If you just want the bullet points summary, feel free to skip down to the final section.
A PRIMER ON THE SBC: UNDERSTANDING THE DENOMINATION
Starting here is essential to understanding the issues and what is actually happening. First of all, the SBC is NOT a “top-down” denomination like many others. Every SBC church is COMPLETELY autonomous. Let me say that another way: every SBC church owns its own property, calls its own leadership, and makes its own decisions. The denomination has literally ZERO authority to tell a local church to do anything. This is one of the key differences in Southern Baptist Convention life from most other denominations. Sometimes people ask me, “Why can’t Lakeside just be an independent church?” I always answer, “We are!” We are independent because there is no denominational structure with authority over our church.
The 48,000+ SBC churches that are part of the denomination do so because they CHOOSE to be part of it. The dollars that local churches send to their local Baptist associations, state conventions, and the national SBC? All 100% VOLUNTARY. Early on in my ministry, the SBC was described to me as “a rope of sand.” That is a great analogy.
Since this is the case, how do we have six SBC seminaries and two mission boards that train thousands of pastors and send thousands of missionaries all over the world each year? The national SBC has several ENTITIES – each governed by its own board of trustees. Each year at the SBC Annual Meeting, part of the business is electing people to the boards of trustees for these entities – The International Mission Board, The North American Mission Board, six seminaries, The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), and LifeWay Christian Resources.
Now, let’s talk about the “annual meeting.” Happening once a year, normally in the second week of June, the SBC annual meeting happens when SBC churches send thousands of “messengers” who are members of the churches to do the convention’s business. Really, the SBC annual meeting is largely two days of a long business meeting that follows Robert’s Rules of Order. Motions are made and voted on. Reports are given. Questions are asked. The SBC Annual Meeting is the largest deliberative body in the world. Legally, “The SBC” only exists these two days each year when the annual meeting takes place. The ENTITIES exist all year. The CHURCHES exist all year.
Now, you may already have a headache just from thinking about all of this! I get it! Yet, here is where the key issue making the news comes into play…
THE ISSUE THAT IS MAKING THE NEWS…
The issue: Whether or not a local church is in friendly cooperation with the SBC.
Remember, the SBC is NOT top down, and participation is strictly VOLUNTARY. However, the SBC is not open to just any church sending messengers and having voting rights at the SBC annual meeting. The governing documents of the SBC (constitution and bylaws) say, “The Convention shall consist of messengers who are members of Baptist churches in COOPERATION with the Convention.” Then the governing documents define what constitutes a church “in friendly cooperation with the Convention.” Part of the definition of being in friendly cooperation is that the church “has a faith and practice which closely identifies with the Convention’s adopted statement of faith.”
What is the SBC’s adopted statement of faith? The 2000 Baptist Faith and Message. You can read that document here…https://bfm.sbc.net/bfm2000/
In article six of the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message on The Church, there is this sentence about the office of pastor in the church…“While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” Notice a couple of very important points in that statement. First, the statement AFFIRMS the many, varied, and absolutely essential gifts and ministries that women bring to the church. Second, the statement expresses the clear Biblical teaching that the office of pastor is limited to Biblically qualified men.
This section in our statement of faith reflects what is known as a COMPLEMENTARIAN understanding of gender roles in scripture: men and women have equal worth and value but COMPLEMENTARY roles in the home and the church. Southern Baptists have long believed that the scripture teaches complementary gender roles, part of which is that the pastoral office is reserved only for men.
What about the churches that have female pastors? They reflect what is called an EGALITARIAN view of gender roles. In that view, churches believe the Bible teaches that men and women are equal in every way in Christ, with no distinctions. Therefore, all church offices are open to both men and women. No restrictions or distinctions in the home or the church.
IMPORTANT POINT: The SBC has clearly, for many years, declared itself to be firmly COMPLEMENTARIAN in its convictions. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 is very clear in this statement. These convictions are grounded in the authority of scripture and in its clear teaching. This is not anything new for Southern Baptists. It has been so for decades. Therefore, a church that is egalitarian in its theology does not “closely identify” with the convention’s statement of faith and is not “in friendly cooperation.” Got it?
If a church is not in friendly cooperation with the SBC, it cannot have messengers at the SBC Annual Meeting. If a church is not in friendly cooperation with the SBC, it is really no longer part of the denomination.
THAT is the issue. Remember, the SBC has ZERO authority over local churches. A church may very well decide to call a female pastor. The church absolutely has the right to do that. However, the SBC absolutely also has the right to declare that the church is not in friendly cooperation. The SBC has ZERO power over churches. It only has the ability to decide if a church is in friendly cooperation.
WHAT IS THE SBC VOTING ON?
Dr. Albert Mohler, President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, is bringing a motion to this year’s annual meeting that the SBC amend the section of its constitution to further clarify and solidify the convention’s complementarian theology. Mohler’s amendment would place into the SBC constitution that a cooperating SBC church… “does not act to affirm, appoint, or endorse a woman serving in the office or function of a pastor/elder/overseer, specifically preaching to the assembled congregation.”
Why is this being done? Dr. Mohler says it is apparent that the SBC needs to further clarify this issue so that we aren’t dealing with it year after year at the annual meeting. In recent years, the convention has dealt with appeals from churches that had been declared not in friendly cooperation by the SBC Credentials Committee and appealed that decision to the floor of the SBC Annual Meeting. All of those appeals were voted down by margins of 90%+ or more. Dr. Mohler says this amendment will help to avoid most of those situations year after year. He also points out that the SBC took similar actions at points in the past, amending our constitution to make clear that churches that affirm or endorse homosexuality or knowingly embrace or promote racism are no longer to be in friendly cooperation. According to Mohler, we don’t vote on those issues every year at the SBC Annual Meeting because the convention has taken clear action, and we should place the issue of female pastors in the same category.
As you might imagine, amendments to the SBC constitution have a very high bar – requiring a 2/3 vote of the messengers for two consecutive annual meetings. At the 2024 and 2025 annual meetings, similar amendments were brought to the floor of the convention, and they had overwhelming support among the messengers, but it was just shy of the required 2/3 of the messengers. Therefore, the amendment failed.
Does this mean that over 1/3 of Southern Baptists support female pastors? Absolutely not! See the results of the appeals by egalitarian churches to the floor of the convention: 90%+ in favor of voting the churches out every time. So why didn’t the amendment pass with 90% in favor? Lots of reasons. Some believe the SBC already has procedures and mechanisms in place to address these issues, so the amendment is unnecessary. Some oppose such an amendment because they believe it moves us away from historic Baptist principles and erodes the autonomy of the local church. Some oppose such an amendment because they believe it will take the SBC down the road of policing titles of female staff members, etc. Some oppose such an amendment because they are uncomfortable with some Southern Baptists, whom they feel already go too far, don’t respect women, etc.
Bottom line: The SBC is clearly and nearly unanimously complementarian in its theology. Almost everyone who has voted against the amendment over the last two years did not oppose it because they are in favor of female pastors. They opposed it for other reasons.
CUTTING THROUGH THE HEADLINES YOU MAY SEE…
- No matter what happens with the amendment vote, the SBC is NOT endorsing, promoting, or otherwise affirming female pastors. The vote is on amending the SBC constitution and on the mechanism for declaring churches not in friendly cooperation. The SBC has consistently spoken clearly about its complementarian convictions on these issues for decades.
- Ignore the manipulative headlines. Now that you understand what is really happening, you can ignore sensational headlines such as “Southern Baptists Ban Female Pastors” or “Southern Baptists Vote Down Ban on Female Pastors.”
- The SBC and our churches absolutely affirm, value, and hold as equal members the women and girls in our churches. Our churches literally could not function without women. NOTHING about this discussion speaks about the value of women or seeks to put down women. In fact, complementarian theology actually values women as equal in God’s image and teaches that women can grow and flourish as they pursue God’s design.
- What the SBC believes about female pastors has not changed, is not changing, and it is not up for debate at the SBC Annual Meeting. The debate is all about how the SBC applies these convictions specifically in regard to churches that seem to have gone outside the boundaries of the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message.
- Social media doesn’t accurately represent the atmosphere of the SBC Annual Meeting. If social media is your only source of information, you would think the SBC is in real turmoil, fighting on every side. The reality is that 90%+ of the folks at the SBC Annual Meeting are joyful, united, and glad to see one another. The atmosphere in the room is totally different from what you will find on social media or in the news. Do we agree on every issue? No. Families don’t always agree about everything, but they do agree on the essential things. The SBC Annual Meeting is like a big family reunion. There is a fundamental unity that is real and can only be understood when you experience it.
SO, GREG, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO VOTE ON THE AMENDMENT?
I intend to gladly support and vote for the amendment.
I agree wholeheartedly with Dr. Jack Graham, the longtime pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. He wrote these words recently, and I leave them with you…
“The vast majority of Southern Baptists support the content and intent of the amendment…This should in no way diminish the dynamic role of the ministries of women in the church, but clearly identifies the authority of the pastoral office and pulpit calling. Let’s unite on this and move forward to reach the world with strong local churches and all of us doing what God has called and gifted us to do in the power of the Holy Spirit in Jesus dear Name.”
gregcorbin.com 