The Southern Baptist Convention failed to pass the law amendment at their annual conference that would ban female pastors and their churches from the denomination.
The Baptist Press reports that the two-thirds vote required to pass the amendment was not reached, with 61.45% voting in favor of the amendment and 38.38% voting against the amendment.
Out of 8,298 votes, 5,099 were in favor, and 3,185 were against it. The addition of the amendment would have stated that churches who were in friendly cooperation of the denomination “affirms, appoints, or employs only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture.”
Last year’s SBC annual meeting in New Orleans met the required number of votes for the amendment to pass. However, this year’s final vote failed to make pass the amendment.
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Currently, the sixth section of the SBC’s Baptism and Faith Message makes it clear that the denomination will not tolerate women behind the pulpit as it states: “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”
The originating pastor of the law amendment, Pastor Mike Law of Arlington, Va., said its purpose was to be “faithful to God’s inerrant Word.”
The rejection of the law amendment comes as the SBC also voted on a new president. Clint Pressley of North Carolina was voted to become the president with a vote of 56.12% majority ruling.
Pressley has served as the senior pastor for Hickory Grove Baptist Church since 2010. He also sits on the board of directors for the denomination’s North Carolina state convention. Pastor Chris Justice of Lee Park Baptist Church in North Carolina says he nominated Pressley because “Clint Pressley is a man of conviction…a pastor committed to our cooperation as Southern Baptists.”
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Abby Trivett is content development editor for Charisma Media.
