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Two churches that instated female pastors were ousted from the fold of Southern Baptists. On Tuesday, June 13, the Southern Baptist Convention voted with an overwhelming majority to expel California megachurch, Saddleback and Kentucky's Fern Creek Baptist Church from the congregation. The convention took place in the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans.
The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptists had expelled five churches due to the presence of women pastors earlier this year in February. But only Saddleback and Fern Creek had decided to challenge this appeal. In the comments section of a tweet by @NoLieWithBTC regarding the news, enraged netizens scathingly criticized the Southern Baptist Congregation's decision.
Despite passionate pleas from leaders of both Saddleback and Fern Creek, voting results revealed that Saddleback lost the appeal with a margin of 9,437:1,212 votes and Fern Creek at 9,700:806 votes. Around 13,000 people are said to have attended the Southern Baptist Convention. February's initial decision of both churches being "not in friendly cooperation" was upheld.
Although the Southern Baptists' 2000 Baptist Faith and Message was already clear on their strict stance regarding women pastors, the convention voted with a two-thirds majority to amend the constitution to further solidify their stance.
The 200 Baptist Faith and Message states that:
"The office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture."
The new constitutional amendment states that the Southern Baptist Convention:
"Affirms, appoints, or employs only men as any kind of pastor or elder."
The amendment will have to be voted on again in next year's Southern Baptist Meeting to come into full effect.
Netizens point out dwindling church numbers; Call out Southern Baptists for abuse and pedophilia
Southern Baptists' decision to expel two churches due to the presence of women pastors was seen as heartbreaking by the internet community. Netizens, including Members of the congregation, criticized SBC for such a "misogynist" and "complementarian" decision that would allegedly push the congregation back into the "middle ages."
Under @NoLieWithBTC's tweet, which amassed over 282,000 views, netizens lambasted the Southern Baptists for taking bible verses out of context in support of their own agenda. People also brought up the Southern Baptists' alleged roots in the support owners and cover-up of many child abuse and pedophilia scandals.
Netizens pointed out that there was a reason why people were leaving the SBC in droves and stated that the churches were better off without being part of the Southern Baptists.
“There are people who want to take the SBC back to the 1950s": Rick Warren, founding pastor of Saddleback Church
Rev. Linda Barnes Popham, who has been serving as a pastor at Fern Creek Baptist Church, Louisville, for around three decades, argued that despite disagreements, her church should be allowed to be in partnership with Southern Baptists.
"We don’t all interpret every Scripture the same way. We believe the Bible allows women to serve in ways in which all of you do not agree. But we should still be able to partner together,” she said.
Retired founding pastor of Saddleback Church, Rick Warren, gave an impassionate plea, challenging the Southern Baptists' decision.
"No one is asking any Southern Baptist to change their theology. I'm not asking you to agree with my church. I am asking you to act like a Southern Baptist, who have historically agreed to disagree on dozens of doctrines in order to share a common mission," he said.
“We should remove churches for all kinds of s*xual sin, racial sin, financial sin, leadership sin – sins that harm the testimony of our convention but the 1,928 churches with women on pastoral staff have not sinned," he added.
Warren said that he knew it would be a losing effort. Following the publishing of the results, Rick Warren stated that certain people wanted to take the church back to the days of the Reformation.
“There are people who want to take the SBC back to the 1950s, when white men ruled supreme and when the woman’s place was in the home," he said.
"There are others who want to take it back 500 years to the time of the Reformation,” he added.
The president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Albert Mohler, argued in favor of the Southern Baptists. Mohler said that the decision to oust the churches was purely biblical.
"The issue of women serving in the pastorate is an issue of fundamental Biblical authority that does violate both the doctrine and the order of the Southern Baptist Convention," he said.
He also explained that the decision does not infringe on the autonomy of any local church.
“We do not seek to invade the autonomy of any local church. At the same time, this convention has the sole responsibility to establish its own membership,” he stated.
Mohler's responses were interrupted by immense applause from the crowd.
