By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer
NEW ORLEANS (LBM) – Messengers to the 2023 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting voted by a two-thirds majority to adopt an amendment to the SBC Constitution that specifies the role of pastor is limited to a man.
Article III, Section 1, currently lists five requirements for congregations to be SBC members.
If the proposed amendment receives a second favorable two-thirds vote during the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, a sixth requirement will specify that a church in friendly cooperation with the SBC “affirms, appoints, or employs only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture.”
The vote resulted from a motion made during the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting by Mike Law, pas[1]tor of Arlington Baptist Church in Virginia.
However, Law’s proposal, which was referred to the SBC Executive Committee last year, was amended this year by a motion offered by Juan Sanchez, pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin, Texas. The change did not alter the intent of the amendment, but states “only men” are qualified to serve as pastors rather than the original wording that “a woman” is disqualified from that role.
If amended next year, the SBC Constitution Article III will parallel Article VI of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the consensus statement of doctrinal beliefs for Southern Baptists, which states, “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”
In New Orleans, the SBC Executive Committee recommended not to amend the Constitution on the basis that it would unnecessarily restate the BF&M 2000.
