SBC Messengers Vote to Approve Constitutional Amendment Banning All Women Pastors
The Southern Baptist Convention voted this week overwhelmingly in support of pushing through an amendment that would prevent women from serving as a “pastor of any kind.”
The proposed amendment to the SBC constitution was passed on Wednesday at the SBC Annual Meeting in New Orleans, The Christian Post reports.
About 80 percent of SBC “messengers” or members voted in favor of the amendment, which says that churches affiliated with the SBC cannot allow women within the church to hold the title of pastor.
The amendment must pass again at next year’s meeting to become part of the SBC Constitution.
“I move that the Constitution of the Southern Baptist Convention be amended to include an enumerated 6th item under Article 3, Paragraph 1, concerning composition. The enumerated 6th item would read: ‘6. Does not affirm, appoint, or employ a woman as a pastor of any kind,'” said Virginia Pastor Mike Law of Arlington Baptist Church.
“We are not ashamed of 1 Timothy 2:12 or afraid of what the Bible teaches. We are not ashamed of our God and His Word.”
The SBC’s Baptist Faith & Message 2000 already states that “the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”
Previously, the SBC Executive Committee endorsed the recommendation to present the amendment to the full convention for a vote, but it also recommended that the messengers vote against the proposed amendment.
“While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture,” it “deems that our beliefs are most appropriately stated in our adopted statement of faith rather than in our constitution and therefore opposes a suggested amendment to SBC Constitution.”
The SBC meeting also confirmed the removal of Saddleback Church from the SBC after the California megachurch placed a woman in the role of teaching pastor.
“It’s not just a matter of church polity; it’s not just a matter of hermeneutics,” President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Al Mohler said. “It’s a matter of biblical commitment, a commitment to the Scripture that unequivocally we believe limits the office of pastor to men.”
Related:
Southern Baptists Disfellowship Rick Warren’s Church over Issue of Female Pastors
Bart Barber Is Reelected as SBC President
Photo courtesy: Unsplash/Melyna Valle
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
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