Should females be pastors? Not according to I Timothy 3. This is recognized in the Baptist Faith & Message 2000, which serves as the statement of faith for the Southern Baptist Convention.
In light of this, last year the convention voted that two churches were not in “friendly cooperation” with the SBC. One of those churches was Saddleback (of Rick Warren fame). This year First Baptist Church of Alexandria, Virginia, went on the chopping block. Almost 92% of the messengers voted to disfellowship that church because of its egalitarian views.
While the messengers overwhelmingly stood for the complementarian beliefs of the BF&M, they did not reflect this in the vote on the Law Amendment. The Law Amendment, which required 2/3 majority to pass, would have enshrined within the SBC constitution the statement that the office of pastor was reserved for men. Because only about 62% voted in favor, it failed.
There are likely many reasons for the failure of the Law Amendment: unabashed egalitarianism, protection of women in non-senior pastor roles, or fear of SBC control over the practice of autonomous churches.
It is my opinion that the amendment should have passed because any person whose job is “pastoral” enough to be called a pastor must live up to the biblical qualifications, one of which is being a male.
