The Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) North American Mission Board (NAMB) released a statement last Thursday, October 14, 2021, clarifying its stance on women in church leadership.
NAMB is the SBC’s domestic church-planting and revitalization organization. In 2020, NAMB planted over 550 new churches and reported 3,057 domestic missionaries under its care.
SBC’s Baptist Faith and Message
The SBC’s Baptist Faith and Message 2000 is a statement of “faith and message to set forth certain teachings which we believe” and details the SBC’s stance on women in church leadership.
Article VI of the statement says, “[The church’s] scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”
NAMB Issues Statement
In the statement released last Thursday, NAMB said that it serves the SBC churches and “seeks to fulfill its mission in fidelity to the statement of faith adopted by the Convention, The Baptist Faith and Message.” Therefore, NAMB is committed to “endorse” and “fund church planters” who align with that faith and message.
“We recognize there are differing views on how best to interpret and apply Article VI of The Baptist Faith and Message, which affirms the truth that ‘both men and women are gifted for service in the church’ and that ‘the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture,’” the statement says. “We will continue to partner with and assist any cooperating churches.”
Clarifying its position, NAMB explained, “We believe it best, however, to reserve endorsement and funding for planters who are willing to reflect the practice of most Southern Baptists in this issue.”
“The challenge of church planting is as tough as it has ever been. The divisiveness we see in the media every day, the lingering impacts of the global pandemic and an increasing secularized world are all reminders of why taking the Gospel to every city and town is so important.” – Kevin Ezell, NAMB PRESIDENT
Defining what “the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture” means, the statement said, “NAMB also requires that endorsed planters align with the practice of the majority of Southern Baptist churches—that only qualified men will hold the office or title of ‘pastor/elder/bishop/overseer’ and, as such, serve as the communicator for teaching and preaching in their main gatherings or worship services.”
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NAMB president Kevin Ezell told Baptist Press last week, “We are always walking with planters through the challenges of their missionary work and clarifying our guidance as they seek to serve God as He has called them. NAMB reaffirmed again this week that we always have and always will only endorse biblically qualified men as pastors, fulfilling those responsibilities unique to that of a pastor.”
“We are committed to the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 and are complementarian by conviction,” Ezell said. “There should be no doubt about our expectations. We love and support our missionaries and our prayer is that every Southern Baptist will continue to confidently and enthusiastically support them as well.”
Women Pastors in the SBC
Leading up to this year’s SBC annual meeting in June, considerable debate centered on how SBC churches ought to approach the question of women in leadership.
In February, ChurchLeaders reported on SBC Pastor Tom Ascol’s call for NAMB’s President Kevin Ezell to explain why the SBC funded a church with a woman pastor on staff, saying, “This is unacceptable.”
Nate Scholmann, another SBC pastor, published an article detailing four NAMB church plants that have female pastors on staff and requested clarity from NAMB.
SBC pastor Tom Buck also asked for clarification after receiving an email from Ezell stating “…we do not fund any plants who have women as lead pastors, etc.”
Related article: SBC’s NAMB Questioned for Funding Church Plants With Female Pastors
In response to Ezell, Buck asked, “Does this mean you do fund plants that have women on staff as pastors in other capacities? For example, children’s pastor, youth pastor, administrative pastor, or any role with the title of a pastor?”
Ezell responded, “NAMB only approves biblically qualified men to serve in the role of a pastor at plants which we endorse and fund. In addition, they are required to whole-heartedly embrace Baptist Faith and Message 2000. BFM2000, and specifically the role of women in the church are among the things our assessors discuss with candidates during assessment — all of it in harmony with BFM2000…At all of our plants, men occupy the senior pastor role. We don’t look at staff rosters to see what titles they’re using for other roles. The 52,000 autonomous churches in the Southern Baptist family use a wide variety of titles for staff roles.”
After being elected SBC president, Ed Litton was asked for his thoughts on allowing churches that have women pastors to join the SBC. Litton said, “I think that’s something we are going to have to work out. What we need to do is hear each other out…’How do you define that role that you ordained that person to?’ ”
Litton added, “The best thing for us to do is not make it a national issue of it, but let that association work it out. The Baptist Faith and Message does not address ordination. We are going to keep it within those boundaries as much as we can.”
“I’m a complementarian. I believe that the pastor-elder of the church has to be male, the primary teaching pastor of the church,” Litton said. “But I also believe in the autonomy of the local church. The truth is, the Baptist Faith and Message doesn’t speak to my wife with me in a series on marriage or a series talking about family. I don’t know about you, but I don’t contain all the wisdom in the world. I believe the Word of God does. But my wife is an apt teacher and she helps me communicate to our people. She also provides a voice that our people need to hear. I felt absolutely free within my convictional status, the Baptist Faith and Message, and the Word of God to invite my wife to come up. She is under my authority as her pastor. We did that together and I am very proud of her.”
SBC Saddleback Church Ordains Women
Saddleback Church, one of the largest churches affiliated with the SBC, ordained three female pastors on May 7, 2021. The church, which is pastored by Rick Warren, called it a “historic night for Saddleback Church in many ways!”
Related article: Saddleback Church, One of the Largest in the SBC, Ordains Its First Female Pastors
The then-president of the SBC, J.D. Greear, called Saddleback’s ordinations of women pastors “disappointing.” In a post shared on his blog, Greear said, “While I have long respected Saddleback’s ministry impact and heart for getting the gospel to the nations. I disagree with their decision to take this step, and would even say I find it disappointing.”