Can the Southern Baptist Convention Survive Without Women Pastors?

In a fewer weeks, members of Southern Baptist churches from crossed the state volition convene successful Dallas for their yearly convention. These gatherings, which pull thousands of radical each year, connection a snapshot of the issues that sharply disagreement the largest evangelical denomination successful the U.S. In caller years, 1 of the astir heated debates has been implicit the relation of women successful religion leadership. Southern Baptists person repeatedly reaffirmed their theological absorption to women serving arsenic pastors. But a radical wrong the denomination has pushed to marque that prohibition much all-encompassing, and to formalize it wrong the denomination’s ineligible documents. The statement implicit women successful ministry has been truthful fraught due to the fact that it touches truthful galore delicate topics: however churches effort to scope radical wherever they are, versus emphasizing Biblical scripture; shifting conceptions of sex roles successful American life, including for women and transgender people; and a consciousness among conservatives that their knowing of the Bible is nether ineligible and taste assault.

In 2023, the New Yorker producers Daniel Lombroso and Devon Blackwell met with Tom Ascol, a pastor successful Cape Coral, Florida, whose organization, Founders Ministries, has pushed for what Ascol describes arsenic stricter adherence to Biblical teachings wrong the Southern Baptist Convention and among section churches. Violating “what the Bible teaches truthful simply and intelligibly present volition embolden churches to say, ‘Well, we person adjusted connected this. We tin set connected different things arsenic well,’ ” Ascol said, connected the contented of women pastors. “Somebody needs to beryllium holding the line.” That year, Southern Baptist leaders voted to region respective churches from the denomination for allowing women successful pastor roles, including Saddleback, the California megachurch founded by the salient pastor Rick Warren. Ascol pointed retired that the S.B.C. is aging and successful decline. “It’s not truly smart, erstwhile you’re losing a fractional cardinal members a year, to intentionally footwear retired radical who privation to fellowship with you,” helium said. “We proceed to beryllium the shrinking Baptist Convention.”

Fern Creek Baptist Church, successful Louisville, Kentucky, was different congregation that was kicked retired successful 2023. The church’s pastor, Linda Barnes Popham, told the New Yorker unit writer Eliza Griswold past twelvemonth that her religion has thrived since parting ways with the S.B.C. Its rank has astir doubled, and respective young families joined aft seeing Popham connected the news. The Southern Baptist Convention, meanwhile, whitethorn instrumentality up the contented of women pastors again this June. “There’s nary uncertainty that the Convention is declining,” Ascol told Lombroso. “We request reformation. We request revival. And it needs to commencement with the household of God.”