Baylor University history professor and author Beth Barr wasn’t surprised earlier this month when the majority of some 8,000 messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention backed an effort to kick out churches that offered women pastoral titles. Barr has chronicled the constraints put on women in the Southern Baptist denomination and other evangelical congregations in her book “The Making of Biblical Womanhood.” What was jolting, given the long history of women’s leadership in children’s ministries, was to see the convention disfellowship First Baptist Church of Alexandria, Virginia, for having a female pastor of children on staff.
“What is surprising is the overwhelming numbers accepting that to be a Baptist and believe the Bible means women’s subordination in church life is non-negotiable,” said Barr, who herself is the wife of a Baptist pastor. “That’s shocking.” A measure to codify that belief in the SBC Constitution fell just short of the supermajority vote needed to change the constitution at the convention in Indianapolis.
But some critics of that measure, the Law Amendment, argued it wasn’t necessary as the convention had long had the power to remove, or disfellowship, churches over female pastors since adoption of the Baptist Faith and Message statement in 2000. But in Waco, women have blazed a trail in pastoring Baptist churches for decades, and they intend to keep it up. The SBC is America’s largest Protestant denomination with nearly 13 mi.
