The Southern Baptist Convention announced Wednesday that it voted overwhelmingly to end the expulsion of two churches from the nation’s largest Protestant denomination for having female pastors.
And the vote was not even close, according to to the SBC‘s account.
Spurred on by arch-conservatives at the SBC, the roughly 12,000 «messengers» who had gathered at their annual meeting in New Orleans voted by a 9-1 margin to seal the departure of Saddleback Church from California and a smaller congregation in Kentucky. .
That vote, which took place Tuesday, set the stage for another vote Wednesday to amend the SBC constitution to specify that Southern Baptist churches must “affirm, appoint, or employ only men as any type of pastor or elder as qualified by the Scriptures.”
That too passed with a two-thirds majority and will take effect after it is approved at the next SBC annual meeting.
Sarah Clatworthy, a member of Lifepoint Baptist Church in San Angelo, Texas, who has called on the SBC to «close the door on feminism and liberalism,» said she supports banning women pastors.
«We must not leave room for our daughters and granddaughters in the next generations to have confusion about the position of the SBC,» she said. “Let them know that the scriptures are our authority and not the culture.”
Earlier, SBC President Bart Barber defended the vote to expel the churches, noting that the Roman Catholic Church also does not allow women to serve as pastors or priestesses.
«We believe that every believer is a priest,» Barber said. «We have women who served as messengers. It’s just that the Scriptures say that the office of pastor is limited to men.»
Saddleback Church, a Southern California-based megachurch with a flock of around 23,000, was founded by Rick Warren, author of the best-selling phenomenon «The Purpose Driven Life.»
The church drew the ire of the SBC after it ordered three women as shepherds in 2021.
But the vote to declare that Saddleback Church is «not in friendly cooperation» with the denomination was because «the church continues to have a female teaching pastor serving in the pastor’s position,» the SBC said in a statement.
That was a reference to Stacie Wood, the wife of Warren’s successor Andy Wood, the SBC said.
Dismissing a personal appeal by Warren, the male and female convention attendees voted 9,437 to 1,212 to uphold the expulsion of Saddleback Church, which occurred in February.
Subsequently, a disappointed Warren said that «there are people who want to take the SBC back to the 1950s when white men ruled supreme and when the place of the woman was in the home».
«The messengers voted for conformity and uniformity over unity,» Warren added at a news conference. “The only way to have unity is to love diversity. We made this effort knowing we weren’t going to win.»
Southern Baptists also voted 9,700 to 806 to deny an appeal by Fern Creek Baptist Church of Louisville, Kentucky, which has been led by the Rev. Linda Barnes Popham for three decades.
When asked why the SBC didn’t move to expel this church sooner, Barber said the denomination has never been in favor of women serving as pastors and that they hoped Fern Creek would «clarify» Popham’s role on its own. .
popham said The Associated Press He said he doesn’t know if his church will join a new denomination or remain independent, adding, «I also believe God has great things for Fern Creek Baptist.»
While all Baptist churches are independent, The ap reported that this is believed to be the first time the SBC has expelled a church for having female pastors.
The SBC also expelled Freedom Church, located in Vero Beach, Florida, for failing to «cooperate in resolving concerns about an allegation of abuse» involving a male senior pastor who allegedly took advantage of the parishioners.