SBC pastors want another push to ban female clergy after Law Amendment failed

Messengers hold up their ballots at the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, on June 14, 2023. | Robin Cornetet/Baptist Press

A group of Southern Baptist Convention clergy are urging the denomination to reconsider an amendment that would permanently prohibit female pastors at member churches after it fell 5 percentage points shy of the two-thirds support needed to pass last year.

In a statement titled "An Open Letter to Our Southern Baptist Family," the pastors and ministry leaders called for the measure known as the Law Amendment to be considered at the upcoming SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas. 

The letter alludes to a recent decision by the SBC Credentials Committee to allow a church in South Carolina to remain in friendly cooperation with the convention even though it had a woman serving as teaching pastor.

"That amendment would have clarified that the Convention will only deem a church to be in friendly cooperation which 'Affirms, appoints, or employs only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture,'" stated the open letter.

"It is apparent that the Credentials Committee needs the clarification that this Amendment would have provided. For that reason, we are supporting a renewed effort to amend the SBC Constitution."

The pastors said they were "not offering new language but are supporting an effort to adopt the same language that a majority of the last two conventions wanted to be passed."

To advance the proposed amendment, the pastors urge the annual meeting "to suspend the standing rule that would put the amendment in the hands of the Executive Committee, which may or may not report out the amendment the following year."

"Because we have already debated this language at the last two conventions, we do not believe that we need to spend another year waiting for the Executive Committee to decide whether to put the amendment before the convention for a vote," they wrote. 

From there, they want to vote on the proposed amendment, with a supermajority needed to advance it. It would need final approval from messengers at the SBC Annual Meeting in 2026.

"We want to be a convention in friendly cooperation with churches that closely identify with our confession of faith, including our clearly stated beliefs about biblical qualifications for pastoral office," they added.

Signatories of the letter include Nate Akin, executive director of the Pillar Network; Pastor H.B. Charles of Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida; Lead Pastor Jed Coppenger of First Baptist Church in Cumming, Georgia; Senior Pastor Aaron Harvie of Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky; Pastor Brian Payne of Lakeview Baptist Church in Auburn, Alabama; Senior Pastor Juan Sanchez of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin, Texas; and Senior Pastor Clay Smith of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia.

The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 defines "pastor" as a person "who fulfills the pastoral office and carries out the pastor's functions," with Article VI explaining that "the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture."

Named after Pastor Mike Law of Arlington Baptist Church in Virginia, the Law Amendment would amend the SBC Constitution to clarify that no member church could have a woman serving as an elder or pastor.

While the SBC has disfellowshipped churches in recent years for having female lead or teaching pastors, Law had estimated that approximately 1,800 member congregations had women serving as pastors.

Former SBC President J.D. Greear was among the critics of the amendment, calling it "unwise" and "unnecessary" and warning that it could lead to an exodus of minority churches.

"I remain convictionally opposed to this amendment, not because of its content but because of its attempt to undermine our historic principles of cooperation," Greear wrote on his website before last year's vote.

At last year's meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, 61% of messengers voted in favor of the Law Amendment, but the proposal needed 66.66% of the vote to be ratified after it was advanced during the 2023 annual meeting with about 80% of the vote from over 12,000 messengers in New Orleans. 

Soon after last year's vote, the Texas-based Baptist Women in Ministry, which has members belonging to numerous Baptist denominations, released a statement celebrating the failure of the proposed amendment.

"We are grateful to churches and messengers represented at the SBC who came to send the message that women have equal value to God. We know that others voted against the amendment for other reasons, but we hope the message of your support for female pastors will be amplified," the group stated.