A group of clergy from the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is urging the denomination to reconsider an amendment that would permanently prohibit female pastors at member churches. This amendment fell just 5 percentage points short of the two-thirds support required for passage last year.
In an “Open Letter to Our Southern Baptist Family,” the pastors and ministry leaders requested that the Law Amendment be brought forth at the upcoming SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas. The letter references a recent decision by the SBC Credentials Committee, allowing a church in South Carolina to maintain friendly cooperation with the convention despite having a woman serving as a teaching pastor.
“That amendment would have clarified that the Convention will only deem a church to be in friendly cooperation which ‘affirms, appoints, or employs only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture,’” the open letter stated.
The clergy highlighted that “it is apparent that the Credentials Committee needs the clarification that this Amendment would have provided. For that reason, we are supporting a renewed effort to amend the SBC Constitution.”
They stated that they were “not offering new language but were supporting an effort to adopt the same language that a majority of the last two conventions wanted to be passed,” adding that “the standing rule should be suspended that would put the amendment in the hands of the Executive Committee, which may or may not report out the amendment the following year.”
The pastors argue that since the language has already been debated at the last two conventions, they should not have to wait another year for the Executive Committee to decide on putting the amendment to a vote.
The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 defines “pastor” as someone “who fulfills the pastoral office and carries out the pastor's functions,” specifying that “the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”
Named after Pastor Mike Law of Arlington Baptist Church in Virginia, the Law Amendment aims to revise the SBC Constitution to clarify that no member church could have a woman serving as an elder or pastor. Although the SBC has disfellowshipped churches in recent years for having female lead or teaching pastors, Law estimated that approximately 1,800 member congregations still have women serving in these roles.
Last year's meeting in Indianapolis saw 61% of messengers voting in favor of the Law Amendment; however, it needed 66.66% of the vote to be ratified after receiving approximately 80% support from over 12,000 messengers in New Orleans during the 2023 annual meeting.
The Texas-based Baptist Women in Ministry, which includes members from various Baptist denominations, issued a statement celebrating the amendment's failure.
“We are grateful to churches and messengers represented at the SBC who came to send the message that women have equal value to God. We know that others voted against the amendment for other reasons, but we hope the message of your support for female pastors will be amplified,” the group stated.
