ORLANDO, Fla. – As Southern Baptists convene for their annual assembly on Tuesday, delegates from this deeply conservative evangelical group are poised to cast their votes on a pivotal constitutional amendment. This amendment seeks to officially prohibit congregations from appointing women as pastors.
At this gathering, representatives from the country’s largest Protestant denomination will also choose a new president and deliberate on various resolutions addressing issues such as immigration and antisemitism.
For the fourth consecutive year, church delegates, known as messengers, will deliberate over an amendment concerning the role of women pastors. While the Southern Baptist Convention’s doctrine, the Baptist Faith and Message, opposes women serving as pastors, each church operates autonomously, limiting the denomination’s direct influence over their practices.
However, the convention retains the authority to disassociate a church from its membership, having already done so with congregations led by women in senior pastoral roles. The stance on women in associate pastoral positions, however, remains more nuanced. The proposed amendment aims to clearly exclude churches where women hold pastoral titles or perform pastoral duties, including delivering sermons to the main congregation.
To pass, this amendment requires a two-thirds majority vote across two consecutive years. Despite securing a majority in past ballots, it has yet to meet this threshold in the previous three years.
Albert Mohler, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky, is advocating for the current iteration of the amendment. He argues that its adoption would bring much-needed clarity and circumvent the prolonged debates that have dominated recent discussions on this matter.
Mohler was also a lead author of the revision to the Baptist Faith and Message in 2000, which incorporated the opposition to women pastors. That statement was adopted in the the Orange County Convention Center, the same Orlando convention hall where this week’s meeting is taking place.
Southern Baptist leaders cite biblical passages they say clearly limit the role of pastor to men.
While that view has predominated within the SBC, advocates for women in pastoral roles have cited biblical passages where women are empowered to share the gospel. “God calls women to pastor, preach and minister” proclaims a billboard near the convention center. The billboard is sponsored by Baptist Women in Ministry, an advocacy group working in a variety of Baptist denominations.
The messengers are also expected to vote Wednesday on resolutions that condemn antisemitism and call for humane treatment of migrants while affirming the legitimacy of immigration enforcement.
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