Southern Baptists to vote on banning women from pastoral roles

Southern Baptists will vote this week on whether or not to ban women from becoming pastors after numerous churches were ousted for having female leaders. 

A proposal will go before some 12,000 voters at this week's Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in New Orleans that would outlaw women in positions of power. 

The SBC Executive Committee, which has 30 employees and 86 appointed members - approved the vote but has formally recommended 'messengers' vote against it. 

At the convention, the group will also decide the fate of several churches that were recently expelled for having women led-congregations in the denomination. 

Pastor Mike Law, a proponent of the ban, says the ruling would provide the SBC with the 'clarity' that they are in 'desperate need of.'

Southern Baptists will vote this week on whether or not to ban women from becoming pastors after numerous churches were ousted for having women lead

Pastor Mike Law (pictured), a proponent of the ban, says the proposed ruling would provide the SBC With the 'clarity' that they are in 'desperate need of'

Law is calling for the voters - 'messengers' as they are called - to vote to authorize the ban this week during their meeting.

'The messengers need to make their voices heard on this amendment and I am thankful they have that opportunity this week,' Law said in a statement Monday. 

The pastor and other ultra-conservative members of the denomination fear that women being allowed to preach will lead to a liberal drift within the church. 

'We must believe what the Bible teaches, and put those beliefs into practice. I encourage my fellow messengers to adopt this amendment and reaffirm our commitment to God's Word,' he added. 

According to Joshua Abbotoy, a pastor whose congregation left the denomination, some Southern Baptists have strong, unfavorable views of women leading. 

He said they view female leaders as 'an early harbinger of a raft of other changes.' 

Abbotoy's conservative organization New Founding published an analysis last year that estimated there were more than 1,800 female pastors in SBC churches.

Opponents of the ban say they believe it could set a dangerous precedent for the denomination and others like it. 

Executive Committee member Dana McCain told USA Today that some voters will vote only based on their own ideologies and 'without perhaps taking time to consider all the ramifications of the governance issues.' 

She also cited the 'potential unintended consequences.' 

In February, SBC's Executive Committee voted to oust Fern Creek Baptist Church along with several others for having a woman in charge. 

Each church is considered independent therefore the Southern Baptists cannot officially tell them what to do, but they can deem them 'not in friendly cooperation.' 

Executive Committee member Dana McCain told USA Today that some voters will vote only based on their own ideologies and 'without perhaps taking time to consider all the ramifications of the governance issues' 

Fern Creek - which is led by 30-year Rev. Linda Barnes Popham - is appealing their decision as Popham says she was called to her position. 

'When I was 8 years old, I knew that God was calling me in some sense,' Rev. Popham told WCHS in a recent interview. 

Her congregants and fellow members of the church - including men - are backing her up and offering their support.  

'I've never seen anybody with a more dedicated heart for the Lord than Linda,' said longtime attendee Rick Pryor.

California's massive Saddleback church is appealing their decision, as well.   

The current pastor, Andy Wood, said in a statement his church believes women can be pastors so long as male elders are ultimately in charge. 

Stacie Wood, Andy's wife, is currently a teaching pastor at Saddleback. 

Rick Warren - the founding pastor of Saddleback - echoed Wood's statements in an open letter 'to all Southern Baptists.' 

Fern Creek church,  which is led by 30-year-veteran Rev. Linda Barnes Popham, is appealing their decision as Popham says she was called to her position

California's massive Saddleback church is appealing their decision, as well

Rick Warren - the founding pastor of Saddleback - echoed Wood's statements in an open letter 'to all Southern Baptists.' Pictured: Rick Warren during the 2022 SBC

He advocated for rejecting division and formal policies that other churches follow.

'This is a vote to affirm the God-given freedom of every Baptist to interpret Scripture as a Baptist — by saying no to those who deny that freedom,' he wrote.

Three other churches were exiled, but are not appealing.

According to SBC, the denomination is 'complementarian' and believes that men and women have different roles within church and life. 

Chuck Kelley, Al Mohler, and Richard Land wrote in a guide for the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message Confession, however, that a 'pastor' is someone 'who fulfills the pastoral office and carries out the pastor's functions.' 

'It is important to understand that the word pastor was chosen precisely because of its clarity among Southern Baptists,' the group elaborated. 

'The statement carefully affirms that both men and women are gifted for service in the church, but the role of pastor is biblically defined and is to be held only by men as qualified by Scripture.'