SBC 'Law Amendment' Fails to Reach 2/3 Vote

Highlights the serious problem in the SBC with many accepting the possibility of female pastors. Rick Warren must be happy.

‘Women as pastors’ is already rejected in the SBC’s statement of faith as of 2000 (https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/sbc-life-articles/sbc-and…)

And yesterday, the same day the vote for the ‘Law Amendment’ failed, the messengers voted a congregation out of the SBC for its views on women pastors (https://apnews.com/article/southern-baptist-annual-meeting-indianapolis…).

So, the convention clearly already has a position on the topic and can act on it. I’m not really sure how important this amendment was. I guess the intent was to make it easier to hold member congregations accountable.

But I think some are attaching too much significance to the vote. E.g., this New Yorker article: https://www.newyorker.com/news/on-religion/an-unexpected-turn-in-the-ev…

The current Statement leaves "wiggle room" for churches to use the label "pastor" for childrens' and teens' pastor to be a woman.

Wally,

The SBC is just an association of churches. Each church does what it wants, and the SBC is not some kind of monolithic single entity. The vote was unnecessary and the language was vague, which would have created more problems than it was worth. The Confession already removes the possibility of women as pastors and the SBC has and will continue to actively vote churches out of the association if they violate the confession. I am a member of one of the largest SBC churches in the country and we also specifically state it in our church constitution.

Now that I'm pastoring a Baptist church that is in fellowship with the SBC, I guess that makes me a new SBC pastor. I can't speak to the necessity of the amendment, but The Baptist Faith & Message does speak to the issue. Under article VI The Church, the BFM states, "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."

Seems pretty clear to me. Only men can serve as elders/pastors. However, some churches interpreted this statement as referring only to the senior pastor or lead pastor. Therefore, they would ordain women to other pastoral roles (e.g. Children's Pastor, Worship Pastor, etc.). Of course, Saddleback completely ignored the statement and was disfellowshipped last year.

The Law amendment would have stipulated that churches in fellowship with the SBC could hire or ordain "only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture." However, even with this in place, all a church would need to do to be in compliance is change the job title from Children's Pastor to Children's Minister. So, I'm not sure how helpful it would have ultimately been.

This is a real concern that churches will need to address given our changing culture. The elder body at my church recently denied membership to someone who comes from a Wesleyan holiness background and who is a convictional egalitarian. He had several doctrinal disagreements with the Baptist Faith & Message (re: eternal security of the believer and "entire sanctification") in addition to his belief that women should be able to serve as pastors / elders. Despite his doctrinal disagreements with our church, the reasons he wanted to join our church were that his wife grew up in our church and is a member and he wanted to be able to teach in our church.

I grew up in SBC churches, have family in SBC churches, know many pastors in SBC churches, so I am very familiar with how the SBC is supposed to run and how it actually runs. The current SBC doctrinal statement allows women to be called pastors if they are some other kind of pastor, such as childrens since many SBC churches do this. Some are trying to correct this "wiggle room". Using semantics to allow the word "minister" instead of "pastor" does not solve the problem.

Wally,

The Confession does not allow women pastors. That is the doctrinal statement of the SBC. The Consitution is vague, and that is what can be considered a church in good standing in the SBC. Two different documents with two different purposes. Most churches have women in leadership positions, including many in fundamentalism. I am a member of a very conservative SBC church doctrinally, including opposition to woman pastors, and we have a woman as children's director.

Just reading and listening to reports from the SBC, PCA, and other church body conventions at this time of year gets me agitated and upset. It is like a parallel universe to the political nastiness we see all around us in the culture. I have absolutely zero interest, at this point in my life, in expending energy on anything of the kind.

For the fourth year in a row, I will be attending the IFCA International Annual Convention at the end of this month. The IFCA is certainly not perfect, but it has been enjoying a season of unusual unity and peace. The convention is like a big family reunion. As you walk through the halls, you see many smiles and hugs. The business sessions take a far backseat to the teaching sessions.

I am thankful and blessed. I have no appetite for the alternative, whatsoever.

Just reading and listening to reports from the SBC, PCA, and other church body conventions at this time of year gets me agitated and upset. It is like a parallel universe to the political nastiness we see all around us in the culture. I have absolutely zero interest, at this point in my life, in expending energy on anything of the kind.

Paul, I agree. I've been asked if I wanted to attend the SBC convention as a messenger, and for the past three years I've said, "No, thanks." One of our elders (a retired pastor) and his wife go instead. I really have no interest in SBC politics. My responsibility is to our local church.