Southern Baptists will open their annual meeting Tuesday in Orlando with a fourth straight debate over whether to formally bar churches that allow a woman to serve in any role resembling a pastor. More than 11,000 church representatives have preregistered for the two-day gathering, where delegates are expected to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment and a separate nonbinding resolution with similar language.
The question is not new to the denomination. In each of the past three annual meetings, a majority of representatives supported adding the ban to the Southern Baptist Convention constitution, but the change fell short of the two-thirds supermajority needed to pass. The Baptist Faith and Message already says the office of pastor is limited to men, yet the convention has still spent years trying to turn that belief into a clearer constitutional rule.
That push has already carried consequences. In recent years, the convention has expelled some churches that appointed women to top pastoral positions or said they had the right to do so. The SBC can also remove any church it deems not to be in friendly cooperation, even though it cannot directly control independent congregations.
Albert Mohler proposed the amendment now before delegates, saying clarity in the constitution would settle the matter. His language would exclude any church that acts to affirm, appoint or endorse a woman serving as pastor, elder or overseer, including preaching to the assembled congregation. Clint Pressley supports the amendment, and both candidates running to succeed him do as well.
The nonbinding resolution will be easier to pass because it needs only a simple majority, but it would not change the constitution. That leaves Orlando as another test of whether the denomination is ready to lock its position in place or whether the gap between a simple majority and the higher threshold will keep the issue unresolved for another year.
