Are Southern Baptists Against Women in Ministry?

In this episode, Pastor Charlie unpacks one of the most discussed topics from the Southern Baptist Convention: women in ministry. What was actually voted on, what does Scripture teach about the office of pastor, and how should churches encourage women to serve and lead within God’s design? Join us as we seek biblical clarity on a topic that often generates more headlines than understanding.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to another episode of the QA with Pastor Charlie Podcast. We're recording this week right off of the heels of the Southern Baptist Convention, where you and Tyler spent the week talking about some, I guess, a lot of issues, but mainly one of the hot topics that came out of this whole thing was the topic of women in ministry and what we should allow and what we should not allow and what the Bible says. And so what have we come to the conclusion of here? Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Well, if you follow the news at all, Southern Baptists, which every year it seems like, whenever there's a convention, Southern Baptists find themselves in the media, partly because we're the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, maybe the world. And then also just, you know, because we do tend to stand upon what we believe is biblical truth and foundation, that can be at odds with the culture and what's popular and things of that nature. One of the things that's probably a little bit of a myth that's out there right now in cultural media is that we as Southern Baptists voted to not allow women to be pastors. That's actually not true. Southern Baptists have stood on what they believe is the biblical interpretation of the office of pastor, bishop, elder, overseer, shepherd, all of these words that we see in the New Testament, that we believe that that is a male-only role, that by God's design and by God's plan. And so that's not anything new in Southern Baptist's life, but the reason it seems like it's new is because there was an official motion for us to clarify not only that we believe that the role of pastor is a male-only role, but to kind of clarify what we mean by that. And so part of it is the leadership of the church, but the second part of it is preaching to the gathered, assembled body of believers. And so part of the clarity that came out of this meeting was us saying that part of what we're saying is in the office of pastor, which is a teaching preaching role in the church, that that function is a male-only role when the body of Christ is gathered and assembled in what we would call it our church a worship service. You know, and so that was some of the clarity that was brought to it. And so there was an amendment that was made, a motion that was made, and then a Southern Baptist, the vast majority, well over 70 something percent, affirmed that this is what we hold to. And I think it's important for us to look at why as Southern Baptists do we believe this. Is it just like a women's issue that we don't think women are as important or as gifted as men? And I think it's important for us to be very clear, that's not what it is. It goes back to a scriptural context that we believe that as we look at the words, the writings of the New Testament, that the office of pastor is always a male role. And part of that office, as you look in 1 Timothy chapter 3, that part of the responsibility is to be able to teach. And then we look at how Paul writes and instructs that he doesn't permit or allow women to teach men, then it has to affect the way that we see that the way that that functions in the church. And so it's nothing new, it's more of a reaffirmation. Personally, I want us to kind of get it dealt with and put behind us. Let's get clarity to it and let's quit talking about it all the time. Because I think often we lose sight of the bigger, more important issues. And it's not that this isn't important. We need to have standards that are based upon how we interpret Scripture. But I think sometimes because we talk about it too much, it can lead us to think that as Southern Baptists, we're against women in ministry. And I think that's one of the things that I always want to be clear on as a pastor. I mean, because you know you're here on our staff, and so clearly we don't we clearly believe that women have the capacity to be in ministry. Uh the question is what kind of ministry? And so my firm belief is that we always stand on what the Bible says, but that also means that we never prohibit anything that the Bible doesn't prohibit. And so while I do believe the Bible's very clear that the office of pastor is a male-only role, and part of that comes with the teaching to the gathered congregation that should be done by men, pastors, uh, that really anything outside of that, there is room for women to serve in that capacity. And we need to make sure that while we stand on these truths, we're also just as much about seeing women with their gifts, with their abilities, and using them in ministry in those platforms and in those ways, because they're clearly a vital, important part of the church. I mean, almost every church history is riddled with women being actively involved in that and making sure that we allow opportunity and ways for them to serve, to use those gifts to benefit the body, to build it up, to help us fulfill the mission of Christ in the world. And so, you know, I think it was an important meeting, but like I said, I think it's one that we want to get behind us here pretty soon. Next year it will come up again, I'm pretty confident, because I think the ruling states that even though we uh by vast majority affirmed it this year, next year we have to have a 60% vote to uh this is probably the wrong word, but to ratify it and make it official. So you can't just change it in one year. And so the hope is this is one of those things that we get dealt with because it is important, but we also move along with. Makes sense. Yeah. So you being in ministry, yeah, I mean, you're a woman who's in ministry, and so you know, just to kind of maybe ask you some questions, how do you feel women are perceived in in ministry and in Baptist life? And you know, has there ever been a time, and I know you're you're relatively young, but has there ever been a time that you felt like you weren't allowed to serve maybe in the way that you normally would because you're female?

SPEAKER_01 5:51

I don't think so, but I never have a great desire to get up and talk in front of people either. So but I do think that sometimes women are limited even when men don't step up, and I don't know that I would agree with that.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Maybe. So when you're saying if a if there's not male leadership available, they choose nothing over choosing a woman to lead.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

Right. You know, and I think we got to be careful because you know, if there is no males to be pastors, uh there's a lot of question to be had, you know, does that constitute a church? But I think about Lottie Moon, and and this story I think is true. You know, you always hear folklore stories. It's been told to me like it's true, so if it's not, I apologize. But, you know, she went and served as a missionary to China. So here's this small lady who says, you know what, the gospel needs to be taken to the ends of the earth, and she goes and there she's making disciples of Jesus. And I'm pretty sure that she received some correspondence back from the United States that basically said, Hey, you're doing some things that men should be doing and you shouldn't be doing that. And she just nicely replied back, Hey, well then send some men.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

You know, and I think you know there is something to that. We we need to be careful that we don't ever step into roles and we trust God. And when God says somebody shouldn't do something or can't do something, we need to honor and trust that. At the same time, all right, well, if you want to complain, then step up. And and I think, you know, hopefully as our church, I think hopefully, you know, we we encourage and challenge men to step up in those God ordained roles, whether it's in the church, whether it's in the family. But but they need to fill those. If if we're gonna be serious about it, then men do need to stand up and and do what they're supposed to do.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Yeah, I think that's good. I don't think we have that problem here by any means.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

But yeah, I hope not. You know, we look at our staff. I mean, even just look at the women of our congregation, and we have a lot of women who are active in ministry, and rightfully so. I could be wrong, but I don't think in our church, you know, we have a lot of women who are desiring a role or anything that's outside of the Bible. I think they're very okay with what the scripture teaches. And for me, that's the issue. The issue is not the giftedness of women, the ability of women. I mean, are there women who could maybe get up and teach better than a man?

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Very probably, you know.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

But I go back to, but that's not how God is ordained. And so therefore, if I'm gonna be faithful to the Bible, I can't let culture, I can't let trends, popularity dictate how we interpret this. We just gotta be faithful to it. And almost every person that I've seen who pushes real hard from a biblical perspective to say some of these things are okay, I feel like they gotta do a lot of word wrangling and and read something in there that's not there. And that's just my personal interpretation. And I always just want to be one of those people that all right, God, I want to know as clearly as I can what you say, and that if you say it, that's what we're gonna do, regardless of what anybody else says or thinks about it. So hopefully that brings some clarity on the on the the news of of Southern Baptist life.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Okay, well, thanks for joining us for another episode of the QA with Pastor Charlie Podcast. If you have more questions like these about our church, about the Bible, about what we believe, we would love to answer them here. You can send them through an email to questions at firstmore.com, and we'll see you next Friday.