Southern Baptist Conventions Votes Against Banning Churches With Women Pastors, Says Rule Already Exists

The Southern Baptist Convention voted against banning churches that allow women to be pastors on Wednesday. 

They say there was no need to ban churches with women pastors because that rule already exists. 

Steve Smith says First Baptist Church of Broken Arrow doesn't have a definitive stance on this issue, but says this is a way of the church saying there are bigger issues to be concerned about right now.

There are about 40,000 Southern Baptist Churches in America that are a part of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Baptist churches send delegates to represent them once a year at the Convention to help make decisions.

"Convention action, convention priorities, and even resolutions that the body wants to make as a group," said Steve Smith, Executive Pastor with First Baptist Church in Broken Arrow.

Smith says the convention is a group of churches that share a common faith and mission.

Delegates voted Wednesday against banning churches that let women work as ordained pastors.

"So, what the convention said today basically was we do not need to further double down on the criteria by which churches are or not in friendly cooperation with respect to women pastors in the church," said Smith. 

He says The Southern Baptist Convention follows five criterions.

Churches that don't follow those are considered not in cooperation with the convention, and if they are not in cooperation, they can't vote, among other things.

"Cooperation also involves contributing a certain percentage of the churches offering to the collective work of the Southern Baptist Convention through a program called the cooperative program so contributing to the work of missions around the world," said Smith.

The first criterion says a church that's part of the convention should be in agreement with the convention's statement of faith.

That includes allowing only men to be pastors.

"So adding a sixth amendment to the constitution to say very implicitly and explicitly that churches that ordain women are not in friendly cooperation was simply unnecessary by the conventions vote today."

Smith says women are critical when it comes to serving in church, and should serve in leadership roles, but, he believes, according to scripture, the office of pastor belongs to men.

The convention also voted Wednesday to oppose in vitro fertilization due to the creation of surplus frozen embryos often being destroyed.