Key takeaways:
- The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) voted overwhelmingly to expel two churches from its ranks for having female pastors.
- The amendment to specify that only men can be employed as qualified pastors at member churches was voted in by a 9-to-1 ratio.
- The vote is seen as a victory for those who believe that only men should be employed as qualified pastors at member churches, and the amendment will need to be voted on again next year before it can take effect.
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) announced Wednesday that it has voted overwhelmingly to expel two churches from its ranks for having female pastors. The vote, which was conducted Tuesday, set the stage for another vote Wednesday to amend the SBC’s constitution to specify that only men can be employed as qualified pastors at member churches.
The approximately 13,000 representatives, known as “messengers”, voted in favor of the amendment by a 9-to-1 ratio. The amendment will need a second vote by a two-thirds margin at next year’s convention in Indianapolis before it would take effect.
The vote was met with cheers and was praised by “messengers” like a Sunday sermon. The two churches that were expelled are California’s Saddleback Church and a smaller congregation in Kentucky.
Mike Law, a pastor at Arlington Baptist Church in Texas, said Wednesday of the amendment in an address to the convention: “It puts us all on the same page about what a pastor is, and who a pastor is: a biblically qualified man.”
The SBC is the nation’s largest Protestant denomination and has been spurred on by arch-conservatives to make this change. The vote is seen as a victory for those who believe that only men should be employed as qualified pastors at member churches. The amendment will need to be voted on again next year before it can take effect.
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