Women in clergy debate rekindled by Southern Baptist action

The largest Protestant denomination in the United States has overwhelmingly reaffirmed its opposition to women serving as either pastors or preachers.

At the Southern Baptist Convention’s Annual Meeting earlier this month, delegates (known as “messengers”) voted overwhelmingly to advance “The Truth and Unity Amendment” to the denomination’s governing constitution.

The amendment explicitly states that any cooperating church within the convention must not “affirm, appoint, or endorse a woman serving in the office or function of a pastor/elder/overseer, such as preaching to the assembled congregation.”

To become a permanent part of the denomination’s constitution, the amendment will have to be approved again at the 2027 annual meeting with at least a two-thirds majority.

This year’s first approval of the amendment came on a 6,028 to 2,026 vote.

Here is a reaction to that vote from some Burke County ministers:

TAMIKA GARRISON

That vote brought a keen sense of disappointment to the Rev. Tamika Garrison, who grew up in a Southern Baptist church but is now a commissioned minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Garrison currently serves as director of Faith Relations and Community Engagement for Carolina Caring and previously served as pastor at Quaker Meadows Presbyterian Church.

“There are obviously many truly qualified women who are called to the ministry,” Garrison said. “We should be affirming their call to the ministry rather than rejecting them.”

Garrison said she worries about the impact the proposed amendment will have on young women growing up in Southern Baptist churches.

“Historically, children don’t get to decide where they go to church; they go where their parents go,” Garrison said. “So they will be growing up in an environment where the paths of ministry and of leadership are effectively closed to them.”

Garrison said it is possible to “cherry pick” verses from the Bible to support the notion that female pastors are forbidden by Scripture, but that these verses are often taken out of context.

“In many ways, the Christian Church is failing right now,” she concluded. “But I know that the God that I love and serve is welcoming and inclusive, receiving people as they are, not turning them away.”

KARIN O’DONNELL

The Rev. Karin O’Donnell, pastor of Mt. Hebron Lutheran Church in Hildebran, shared Garrison’s sense of disappointment in the recent Southern Baptist vote.

“I feel they’re basing this decision on one small set of verses written by the Apostle Paul,” she said, “without acknowledging they were written relating to particular situations in particular cities.”

O’Donnell pointed to the examples of numerous women throughout the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, who served as messengers and proclaimers of faith, including Mary Magdalene.

“It was women who provided the word of mouth transmission of the Gospel after the death of Jesus,” she said. “An action like the Southern Baptists have taken simply negates the history of women as if it never happened.”

O’Donnell believes the Southern Baptist is sending three powerful messages to women:

1. “You’re not equal. Men are superior.”
2. “We don’t need your leadership or your viewpoint.”
3. “If you want to fulfill your calling, you need to look elsewhere.”

JOSH LAIL

The Rev. Josh Lail is pastor of Valdese First Baptist Church, a body that has ties to both the Southern Baptist Convention and the more moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

“(Valdese First Baptist) supports both men and women in all areas of leadership in our congregation,” he said. “We have ordained women to the gospel ministry. We have also ordained women as deacons for more than 50 years. Women regularly preach in my absence, because I want our church to remember that support for women in ministry is part of our church’s identity.”

The proposed amendment, which says churches may not continue to be affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention if they employ female ministers, goes against the basic principles of being Southern Baptist, Lail said.

“Church autonomy is part of Baptist DNA.” Lail said. “There is no bishop, synod, or diocese who can tell us what we must believe and teach.

“At First Baptist Valdese,” Lail continued, “we do not believe we get to decide who God calls and equips for whatever purpose God chooses to use him or her. Calling is strictly business between God and the called individual.”

Asked what impact he thinks the convention vote will have on young Southern Baptist women who feel the call to preach, Lail responded, “Again, it isn’t the church that does the calling; it is God.

“If the Gospel is indeed good news, as I wholeheartedly believe,” Lail continued, “then shouldn’t we desire as many people as possible to share that message in any way possible?”

TOM BLAND

The Rev. Dr. Tom Bland is pastor emeritus of Morganton First Baptist Church. He served as senior pastor at the historic church for nearly three decades before his retirement two years ago.

Questioned about the impact of the recent vote, Bland first recounted two issues upon which most Southern Baptists agree.

“The first is the concept of local church autonomy,” Bland said. “Whatever broader bodies of Southern Baptists or other Baptists decide or decree, the final administrative authority for all matters of faith and practice is the local church.”

“The second,” Bland said, “is the indispensable role of women in that church. Few, if any, Baptists would have the temerity to suggest that any church could function effectively without women doing a host of tasks and lending their wisdom, energy, and God-given gifts and talents to every aspect of church life.”

After a thorough look at the Scriptures which can be used to both oppose and support the role of women as pastor, Bland drew two conclusions:

“I affirm that a blanket prohibition against women in ministry is not supported in the Bible, and that God still calls and empowers whomever He will, including women to do the vitally important work of proclamation of the Gospel, even as pastors and preachers.”

Finally, Bland said, “I affirm the right of individual believers and the local church to interpret these matters for themselves.”