SBC votes not to double down on male pastors rule

The Southern Baptist Convention on Wednesday failed to pass an amendment that would have strengthened the denomination’s Biblical stance that only men may serve as pastors and elders. Texas pastor Juan Sanchez filed a motion for the SBC to reconsider the amendment introduced last year by Virginia pastor Mike Law. The amendment would have changed the SBC’s constitution to state that only churches that did not have women in any kind of pastor or elder role could remain in friendly cooperation with the SBC.

How did the SBC vote? More than 5,600 messengers voted on the measure. Of that number, about 61%, roughly 3,400 ballots, supported it. Less than 39%, or about 2,200 ballots, opposed it. The supporting votes fell short of the two-thirds supermajority required for passage.

Doesn’t the SBC already prohibit female pastors and elders? The Baptist Faith and Message, the denomination's statement of faith last amended in 2000, already states that only men may serve as elders or pastors.

The amendment would have added this provision to the SBC’s constitution as well. It would not have barred women from holding leadership positions in churches, but it would have excluded churches with female pastors from joining the SBC. Congregations remain split over the issue because some SBC churches also use the term “pastor” to refer to women who minister to women and children but not the entire congregation.

“I do think there is a broad consensus in the convention, in Southern Baptists, what the title pastor means, what the function is,” SBC President Clint Pressley said after the vote. “I do think there's a broad consensus with that. I don't think necessarily not voting the Sanchez amendment in is a reflection on whether or not the convention as a whole is genuinely complementary.”

An amendment to exclude churches that appoint women as pastors failed to pass at the 2024 convention despite about 60% of the convention’s messengers voting in favor.

The amendment passed overwhelmingly with an open ballot in 2023, but it needed a supermajority in 2024 to take effect. The denomination also in 2023 expelled several churches that had women serving as pastors, including the well-known Saddleback Church of Lake Forest, Calif.

Dig deeper: Read Lauren Canterberry’s report on the SBC disfellowshipping Saddleback Church.