Southern Baptist Convention Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==== Gender-based roles ==== Officially, the denomination subscribes to the [[complementarianism|complementarian]] view of [[gender role]]s.{{sfn|Finn|2010|pp=68β69}} Beginning in the early 1970s, as a reaction to their perceptions of various "women's liberation movements",<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.sbc.net/resolutions/amResolution.asp?ID=1090 |title= Resolution on the Place of Women in Christian Service |publisher= SBC |access-date= December 10, 2011 |archive-date= January 18, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120118161933/http://www.sbc.net/resolutions/amResolution.asp?ID=1090 |url-status= dead }}</ref> the church, along with several other historically conservative Baptist groups,<ref>See {{harvnb|Morris|Lee|2005|pp=355β363}}, for a discussion of attitudes regarding gender and their relationship to ministry.</ref> began to assert its view of the propriety and primacy of what it deemed "traditional gender roles" as a body. In 1973, at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, delegates passed a resolution that read in part: "Man was not made for woman, but the woman for the man. Woman is the glory of man. Woman would not have existed without man."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://feminist.org/resources/feminist-chronicles/the-feminist-chronicles-2/part-ii-1973/|title=Part II - 1973}}</ref> In 1998, the convention appended a male leadership understanding of marriage to the 1963 version of the Baptist Faith and Message, with an official amendment: Article XVIII, "The Family". In 2000, it revised the document to reflect support for a male-only pastorate with no mention of the office of deacon.<ref name="women" /><ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.baptist2baptist.net/b2barticle.asp?ID=228 | first = Tammi Reed | last = Ledbetter | title = SBC and Women Pastors, Comprehensive Report Does Not Sustain Inflated Statistics |date=October 2000 | newspaper = Baptist 2 Baptist | access-date = July 19, 2007}}.</ref> ===== In the pastorate and marriage ===== In 1984, when it had about 250 women pastors, the Convention adopted a resolution affirming the exclusion of women from pastoral leadership.<ref name="upi.com">David E. Anderson, [https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/06/15/Southern-Baptists-oppose-womens-ordination/3365456120000/ Southern Baptists oppose women's ordination], upi.com, USA, June 15, 1984</ref> Since 1987, various local associations and regional conventions have considered churches that have authorized the [[Ordination of women#Baptist|pastoral ministry of women]] to not be in friendly cooperation (or "disfellowshipped"), without the intervention of the national convention on the subject.<ref>David Roach, [https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/tenn-assoc-disfellowships-church-with-female-pastor/ Tenn. assoc. disfellowships church with female pastor], baptistpress.com, USA, 20 octobre 2015</ref> By explicitly defining the pastoral office as the exclusive domain of males, the 2000 BF&M provision became the Southern Baptist's first-ever official position against women pastors.<ref>"Comparison of 1925, 1963 and 2000 Baptist Faith and Message". Online: http://www.sbc.net/bfm2000/bfmcomparison.asp. Accessed: 7 Aug 2015</ref> As individual churches affiliated with the organization are autonomous, churches cannot be forced to adopt a male-only pastorate.<ref name="autonomy" /> Some churches that have installed women as their pastors have been disfellowshipped from membership in their local associations; a smaller number have been disfellowshipped from their affiliated state conventions.<ref>{{Citation | first = Kristen | last = Campbell | title = Baptist Church Ousted for Hiring Woman Pastor | newspaper = Religion News Service | url = http://www.beliefnet.com/story/202/story_20231_1.html | access-date = 2007-09-26 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071107170239/http://www.beliefnet.com/story/202/story_20231_1.html | archive-date = November 7, 2007 }}.</ref><ref name=":11">{{Cite web |last=Shellnutt |first=Kate |title=Southern Baptist Convention Disfellowships Saddleback Church |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2023/february/saddleback-church-southern-baptist-sbc-disfellowship-female.html |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=Christianity Today |date=February 21, 2023 |language=en}}</ref> In February 2023, the Executive Committee for the first time deemed five churches that had appointed women pastors to not be in friendly cooperation. In June 2023, when two churches requested a review of the decision on this subject, 88% of church representatives at the annual convention voted to uphold the decision.<ref>Michael Gryboski, [https://www.christianpost.com/news/saddleback-churchs-ousting-from-sbc-upheld-at-annual-meeting.html SBC upholds ousting of Saddleback Church over woman teaching pastor], christianpost.com, USA, June 14, 2023</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-14 |title=Messengers sustain removal of 3 churches not in 'friendly cooperation' - The Baptist Paper |url=https://thebaptistpaper.org/messengers-sustain-removal-of-3-churches-not-in-friendly-cooperation/,%20https://thebaptistpaper.org/messengers-sustain-removal-of-3-churches-not-in-friendly-cooperation/ |access-date=2023-06-14 |website=thebaptistpaper.org |language=en-US}}</ref> ''American Reformer'' magazine estimated the convention would have 1,844 female pastors in 2023.<ref>Kevin McClure, [https://americanreformer.org/2023/06/how-many-female-pastors-are-in-the-sbc/ How many female pastors are in the sbc?], americanreformer.org, USA, June 10, 2023</ref> The crystallization of the church's positions on gender roles and restrictions of women's participation in the pastorate contributed to the decision by members now belonging to the [[Cooperative Baptist Fellowship]], which broke from the convention in 1991.<ref>{{Citation | first1 = Eileen R | last1 = Campbell-Reed | first2 = Pamela R | last2 = Durso | url = http://www.cbeinternational.org/files/u1/resources/14-Campbell-pdf.pdf | title = Assessing Attitudes About Women in Baptist Life | year = 2006 | publisher = CBE international | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101229121648/http://www.cbeinternational.org/files/u1/resources/14-Campbell-pdf.pdf | archive-date = December 29, 2010 }}.</ref> Another denomination that broke off, the [[Alliance of Baptists]], also accepts women's ordination. The 2000 BF&M prescribes a husband-headship authority structure, closely following the [[Paul the Apostle|apostle Paul]]'s exhortations in {{Bibleverse |Ephesians|5:21β33}}:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Southern Baptist Convention > Commentary on Article XVIII β The Family |url=http://www.sbc.net/bfm2000/articleXVIII.asp |access-date=2018-12-25 |publisher=Southern Baptist Convention |archive-date=December 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225230210/http://www.sbc.net/bfm2000/articleXVIII.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref> {{blockquote|'''Article XVIII. The Family.''' The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God's image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to his people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead ''his'' family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page