Southern Baptists are poised to ban churches with women pastors. Some are urging them to reconsider
From its towering white steeple and red-brick facade to its Sunday services filled with rousing gospel hymns and evangelistic sermons, First Baptist Church of Alexandria, Virginia, embodies the classic features of a Southern Baptist church.
On a recent Sunday, Kim Eskridge, the pastor for women and children, encouraged members to invite friends and neighbors to an upcoming vacation Bible school — a long-standing Baptist tradition — to help “reach families in the community with the gospel.”
However, because this pastor is a woman, First Baptist’s affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention might be in jeopardy. At the SBC’s annual meeting on June 11-12 in Indianapolis, representatives will vote on whether to amend the denomination’s constitution to ban churches with any women pastors — not just in the senior role. This measure received overwhelming support in a preliminary vote last year.
At the SBC’s annual meeting June 11-12 in Indianapolis, representatives will vote on whether to amend the denomination’s constitution to essentially ban churches with any women pastors — and not just in the top job. That measure received overwhelming approval in a preliminary vote last year.
Leaders of First Baptist – which has given millions to Southern Baptist causes and has been involved with the convention since its 19th century founding — are bracing for a possible expulsion.
“We are grieved at the direction the SBC has taken,” the church said in a statement.
First Baptist is not alone in facing potential repercussions. Estimates suggest that the proposed ban could affect hundreds of congregations, disproportionately impacting predominantly Black churches.
This vote is the culmination of events that began two years ago when a Virginia pastor contacted SBC officials, arguing that First Baptist and four nearby churches were “out of step” with the denominational doctrine, which states that only men can be pastors. In April, the SBC Credentials Committee launched a formal inquiry.
Southern Baptists disagree on which ministry roles this doctrine pertains to. Some believe it applies only to the senior pastor, while others argue that a pastor is anyone who preaches and exercises spiritual authority.
In a denomination that values local church autonomy, critics argue that the convention should not establish a constitutional rule based on one interpretation of its non-binding doctrinal statement.
By some estimates, women hold pastoral roles in hundreds of SBC-linked churches, a small fraction of the nearly 47,000 congregations across the denomination.
Critics argue that the amendment would lead to further numerical and ideological narrowing for the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, which has shifted steadily rightward in recent decades. They also question whether the SBC has more pressing issues to address.
The denomination has struggled to respond to sexual abuse cases within its churches. In May, a former professor at a Southern Baptist seminary in Texas was indicted on a charge of falsifying a record about alleged sexual abuse by a student to obstruct a federal investigation into sexual misconduct in the convention.
SBC membership has fallen below 13 million, marking a nearly half-century low, and baptismal rates are in long-term decline.
If passed, the amendment wouldn’t trigger an immediate purge but could keep the denomination’s leaders occupied for years, investigating and ousting churches.
Many predominantly Black churches have men as lead pastors but assign pastoral titles to women in other areas, such as worship and children’s ministries.
“To disfellowship like-minded churches based on a local-church governance decision dishonors the spirit of cooperation and the guiding tenets of our denomination,” wrote Pastor Gregory Perkins, president of the SBC’s National African American Fellowship, to denominational officials.
This controversy complicates the predominantly white denomination’s efforts to diversify and address its legacy of slavery and segregation.
Proponents of the amendment argue that the convention needs to uphold its doctrinal statement, the Baptist Faith and Message, which states that the office of pastor is “limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”
“If we won’t stand on this issue and be unapologetically biblical, then we won’t stand on anything,” said Mike Law, pastor of Arlington Baptist Church in Virginia, and a supporter of the amendment.
Since Baptist churches are independent, the convention cannot dictate their actions or whom they appoint as pastors.
Baptist Women in Ministry, which began within the SBC in the 1980s but now works in multiple Baptist denominations, has taken note. The Rev. Meredith Stone, its executive director, said some women pastors within the SBC have reached out for support.
The group plans to release a documentary, “Midwives of a Movement,” about 20th century trailblazers for women in Baptist ministry, on the eve of the SBC meeting.
“As they are saying women have less value to God than men in the church, we want to make sure that women know they do have equal value and that there are no limits to how they follow Christ in the work of the church,” Stone said.
