4 years running, Southern Baptists weigh tightening ban on churches with women pastors

Messengers attending the Southern Baptist Convention participate in worship during the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting, June 10, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez, File)2026-06-05T11:01:56Z When Southern Baptists gather Tuesday in Florida for their annual meeting, they’ll debate for the fourth year in a row whether to formally ban churches with a woman serving in any role resembling that of pastor — not just the top job.One thing they are unlikely to debate is the politics of many Southern Baptists, the vanguard of broader white conservative evangelical support for President Donald Trump.Officials for the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, say more than 11,000 church representatives have preregistered for the two-day meeting in Orlando. Revisiting a ban on churches with women pastorsIn the previous three annual meetings, a majority of representatives voted to amend the SBC constitution to ban churches with women in any pastoral role. But the measures failed to get a two-thirds supermajority in two consecutive years that is required to pass an amendment.The denomination’s statement of belief, the Baptist Faith and Message, declares that the office of pastor is limited to men. While nonbinding on churches, this has prompted the SBC to expel some churches with women in leading pastoral roles. Now the focus is those who preach or serve in subordinate pastoral roles. This year, an amendment proposed by Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, would exclude any church that acts “to affirm, appoint, or endorse a woman serving in the office or function of a pastor/elder/overseer, specifically preaching to the assembled congregation.” Read More Mohler noted the debate has consumed too much time and attention. “Clarity in the constitution would settle that,” he said.The outgoing SBC president, Clint Pressley, supports the amendment, as do both candidates running to succeed him.Another nonbinding resolution with similar language will be considered. It requires only a simple majority to pass. As an association of independent congregations, the SBC can’t tell them what to do. But it can expel any church deemed not to be in “friendly cooperation.” The convention has ousted churches in recent years that appointed women to top pastoral positions or asserted the right to do so. But the status of churches with female assistant pastors is still debated. On his own podcast, Mohler recently said it would even be a “problem” for a church podcast to include a woman answering questions about that week’s sermon. Array of issues queued up for debateThat view drew pushback online, including from prominent Bible teacher Beth Moore, who left the SBC after she faced criticism for advocating for victims of sexual abuse and criticizing evangelical support for Trump despite such things as his crude sexual boasts.“How in heaven’s name a woman discussing a sermon on a podcast could be objectionable to some is beyond me and what I believe to be beyond scripture,” she posted on X.She added later: “Which has been the greater problem: women trying to become your senior pastors or pastors misusing or abusing women?”Amy Sims, associate pastor of preschool and children at Sugarland Baptist Church in Sugarland, Texas, described a now-yearly contrast of preparing for vacation Bible school just as Southern Baptists are debating women’s ministry. “I preach. I teach. I disciple children and families,” she wrote on the independent site Baptist News Global. “I walk with parents through crises. I visit hospitals. I help lead people to faith in Christ. I perform baptisms. … I serve now at a church that is beautifully supportive of my work and calling as a woman and pastor.”Every June, Sims added, “there are those who seem determined to remind me they do not believe God could have called me to do the very work I am doing.”Even as the convention’s membership shrinks, the annual meeting serves as a bellwether for religious and political trends among evangelicals. And as is typical, the biggest attention will be on whether the already-conservative SBC decides to move further rightward.The upcoming meeting follows the release of internal statistics showing a continuation of a nearly two-decade-long decline in membership. It’s down to 12.3 million, the lowest since 1973. Southern Baptists have, however, seen a bump in baptisms. They consider this a key spiritual vital sign because it measures conversions, though the increase is not enough to stem the overall decline.Southern Baptists will consider other policy statements. One proposed resolution calls for humane treatment of immigrants and rejecting nativistic and dehumanizing rhetoric while also affirming the government’s responsibility for immigration enforcement.Another denounces antisemitic violence and conspiracy theories, notably those arising since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. At the same time, the resoluti

Messengers attending the Southern Baptist Convention participate in worship during the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting, June 10, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez, File)2026-06-05T11:01:56Z When Southern Baptists gather Tuesday in Florida for their annual meeting, they’ll debate for the fourth year in a row whether to formally ban churches with a woman serving in…

Messengers attending the Southern Baptist Convention participate in worship during the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting, June 10, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez, File)2026-06-05T11:01:56Z When Southern Baptists gather Tuesday in Florida for their annual meeting, they’ll debate for the fourth year in a row whether to formally ban churches with a woman serving in any role resembling that of pastor — not just the top job.One thing they are unlikely to debate is the politics of many Southern Baptists, the vanguard of broader white…