Bane once said, “They expect one of us in the wreckage, brother.” that is exactly what was said to FBC Alexandria as thousands voted to kick them out of the Southern Baptist Convention while also voting against a ban on female pastors. FBC Alexandria was not booted from the Southern Baptist Convention for having female pastors but for being too open about having female pastors. FBC Alexandria is at least being honest, which is more than can be said about Brent Leatherwood’s church, Jonathan Howes’s church, and many other SBC elites.
Last week, SBC elites took a victory lap in the form of a Baptist Press article titled, “Doctrinal fidelity without methodological conformity.” The article openly admits that female pastors exist in the SBC and that it’s a good thing.
There are a number of churches in our convention which are complementarian but have female staff members who have the word “pastor” in their title, though they do not function as a senior pastor. For instance, many churches title their female children’s director as a children’s “pastor.”
Some in the SBC were concerned the adoption of the Law amendment would have required us to exclude such churches from cooperation. The messengers instead determined not to adopt this requirement. There may be other better ways to have a conversation with these churches about how best to title their staff members, but the Convention determined that requiring conformity in how staff members are titled is not something we are willing to do.
Historically, the term “pastor” in the Baptist Faith and Message was understood by many to refer to the office of senior pastor and not staff positions. As a result, we have cooperated with churches which use these titles in a variety of ways. We have churches with one senior pastor and a board of lay elders. We have churches with a plurality of elders. We have churches who use “minister” as a title for their staff-level positions instead of “pastor.”
Truly, Southern Baptists have a good degree of variety when it comes to how staff are titled. However, when a church signals that it is egalitarian in its belief regarding the pastorate, the Convention has been willing to exclude it from cooperation. At the same time, the messengers have determined not to require conformity in terms of how staff positions are titled.
The author, Andrew Hébert, erroneously argues that pastor has meant “senior pastor” instead of “pastor” which has been a common liberal refrain in the SBC.
This is a good approach for Southern Baptists. It is a historical approach. It is an approach which reflects Baptist polity.
It allows us to maintain our convictions while being charitable with those who disagree on more minor matters. And it allows us to maintain doctrinal fidelity without requiring methodological conformity.
While the vote on the “Law amendment” reflects a difference in opinion on how best to approach the question of polity, Southern Baptists remain unified on the question of our theology.
The vote of the Law Amendment revealed that Southern Baptists are not actually united on the issue of female pastors given their refusal to ban them. Nevertheless, female pastors in the SBC are celebrated by elites under the guise of church autonomy and reducing a proxy issue of Scripture’s authority to a tertiary issue.
James Merritt introduced the motion to create the Cooperation Committee Task Force in 2023. The intent was to neuter the Mike Law Amendment.
Jonathan Howe is one of the people who vied for the SBC Executive Committee president position. He’s also on the staff of Baptist Press, the SBC’s news outlet run by the Executive Committee. His wife, Beth Howe, is a female functioning as a pastor! Woodmont Baptist Church is also aligned with the liberal Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
The elites in the SBC are theological liberals, especially on the issue of female pastors. Thus, they pulled out all the stops to protect them in the SBC.
