ORLANDO, Fla. — Delegates from the Southern Baptist Convention are convening Tuesday for their yearly gathering, where representatives from the conservative evangelical denomination will consider a constitutional change that would officially prohibit congregations led by female pastors.
Representatives from America’s biggest Protestant denomination will also select new leadership and consider multiple resolutions addressing topics from immigration policy to antisemitism.
For the fourth consecutive year, messengers — the term used for church delegates — will cast ballots on changes regarding female pastoral leadership. The Southern Baptist Convention’s doctrinal statement, known as the Baptist Faith and Message, already rejects female pastors. However, individual congregations operate independently, and the denomination lacks authority to dictate their practices.
The denomination does possess the power to remove congregations from membership, and has already dismissed several churches that appointed women to senior pastoral positions. Views have been more divided concerning congregations with women serving in associate pastoral capacities. The current proposed change would explicitly prohibit churches where women hold pastoral office or perform pastoral duties, including “preaching to the assembled congregation.”
Implementing such a change requires approval by two-thirds of voters across two consecutive annual meetings, a threshold that has not been reached during the past three years despite receiving majority support.
The newest version of the amendment comes from Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky. He has argued that a constitutional change would bring clarity and eliminate the lengthy and exhausting discussions that this topic has generated in recent years.
Mohler also played a key role in writing the updated Baptist Faith and Message in 2000, which included the rejection of female pastors. That document was approved at the Orange County Convention Center, the identical Orlando venue hosting this week’s gathering.
Southern Baptist leadership references biblical texts they believe clearly restrict pastoral roles to men.
Although this perspective has dominated within the SBC, supporters of women in pastoral positions have pointed to biblical passages where women are authorized to spread the gospel. “God calls women to pastor, preach and minister” reads a billboard located near the convention center. The sign is funded by Baptist Women in Ministry, an advocacy organization active across various Baptist denominations.
The messengers will also vote Wednesday on resolutions that denounce antisemitism and advocate for compassionate treatment of migrants while supporting legitimate immigration enforcement.
