Regardless of misleading national news headlines and all of the noise on social media, the SBC is united in its position on gender roles in the church.
I have been a Christian for over two decades, but I was Baptist nine months before I was born. Soon, I’m going to write a column on “Why I am a Baptist,” but for this week I want to explain a recent vote at the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) that made national news.
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First, I should explain that as a Baptist, I hold to the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture. If a church doesn’t believe the Bible, then they really are not a “Christian” church. If they are going to take that position, what’s even the point of assembling and calling yourself a church? The group merely becomes another social organization focused on issues of the day rather than worship. The chief reason I am a Baptist is that they hold to the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture and attempt to govern their other positions with that at the forefront.
There is much confusion on the roles of staff in churches today. The New Testament describes only two official church positions. The first is deacon and the second of bishop. The Greek word for deacon (diakonos) refers to someone who serves the church. This is first found in Acts 6 when deacons were appointed to oversee the distribution of food to the Hellenist converts. Paul provides the qualification for deacons in 1 Timothy 3:8-13, which excludes women.
1 Timothy 3:8-13 – Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless. Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Secondly the office of bishop is found in the New Testament. The Greek word for Bishop (episkopos) means a guardian or overseer. The qualifications for the office of bishop are very similar to that of deacons and are outlined in detail in multiple Scriptures. Those passages are below.
It is noteworthy that all of the terms described in 1 Timothy and Titus are in the male gender. This is intentional and shouldn’t be overlooked.
1 Timothy 3:1-7 – This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
Titus 1:5-9 – For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you—if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination. For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.
1 Timothy 2:12-14 – And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.
Titus 2:3-5 – But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things – that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.
These two offices are reserved solely for males. Women, for nearly 2000 years, viewed this as appropriate, and in most cases were thankful they were not burdened by the responsibility and challenges that come with being a spiritual leader in the church. Much of Scripture, on the surface, looks offensive or sexist to the modern reader who is unwilling to delve into the historicity of the text. But the reality is that those same provisions are designed to protect women and are a blessing to women. Feminism and modern-day liberalism try to blur the lines of gender roles thus warping God’s design. This is what has led to confusion on women’s roles in the church over the last 100 years.
Don’t get mad and start sending hateful emails to the editors if you don’t like what I am outlining here. I am merely outlining what God has outlined for us in His text. It is His words, not mine. There are a lot of obvious reasons why women shouldn’t be pastors. Regardless of my personal convictions, Scripture is very clear on this subject.
The SBC has held to this understanding for a really long time and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The recent debate wasn’t about women being bishops or deacons.
As far back as I can remember, churches had a pastor who preached a sermon at the services. A music leader handled the singing, and maybe you had a youth leader and education leader if your church was large enough. Vanity and egotism have led to a confusion of titles and roles in Baptist circles. I can’t speak exactly as to how or why it happened, but what is clear is that this issue is of our own making.
Churches now refer to everyone on staff as a pastor. But the biblical model is that there is a single pastor of a church and then deacons under that pastor. It is these non-senior pastor roles that are creating the confusion. It used to be that they were called “music minister” or “minister of education” or “youth minister.” If it was a woman, it was a “children’s director” or maybe “music director.
Nobody had a problem with any of those titles or females serving in those roles with those titles. I fear that the confusion has come from vanity and pride. Some churches want to appear bigger and more influential than they are, and one way for them to achieve that is having a large staff. If a church gets so large that they need 40+ staff members, then they should start planting churches.
Modern liberal churches have started to adopt “co-pastors” amongst husband-and-wife teams, leading to even more confusion. The concept of husband-and-wife co-pastors is foreign to Scripture. It is a creation of liberal modernism designed to be more inclusive and relevant. After all, we don’t want to offend anybody (insert eye roll).
Because churches call too many staff members “pastor,” including roles in which women may be engaged, the SBC felt the need to clarify that women can’t be pastors. What they should have done instead was clarify that a church is to have a single pastor and that all on staff under that pastor are “under-shepherds” or “ministers” in some capacity but not formally the pastor.
Why not just change it back to a single pastor, minister of education, music minister, children’s director and youth minister? Why do we need an executive pastor, senior adults pastor, human resources pastor, multimedia pastor, balloon ministry pastor, pastoral care pastor (yes this title is a real thing), spiritual formations pastor, family life pastor, physical fitness pastor, next gen pastor, connection and communication pastor, phone call reception pastor (aka receptionist), new member pastor, broadcast pastor and, finally, senior pastor. Presently anyone and everyone can be a pastor. All you have to do is get a job at the local church in some area of ministry.
Ok, I made up balloon ministry pastor to highlight the lunacy of it all. How can the church expect a world of non-believers to take us seriously or comprehend what we do if we complicate Scripture to this point? Scripture affirms that there are bishops (pastors) and deacons.
On the issue of female pastors, the Bible is very clear. The office is for males only.
The SBC vote failed more than likely out of fear that the proposed change would result in churches disaffiliating with the convention. The intent of the vote was never to expel churches that had women in non-senior pastor roles. That idea is strictly a fabrication by the national media attempting to brand the church in a negative light. Those encouraging the vote wanted to ensure that the blurred lines around the title pastor doesn’t lead to women being in a role of co-pastor or in a role that is contrary to what Scripture says. In my opinion it was a good idea to clarify the point and I would have voted in favor of excluding women as pastors. That would have resolved that women could serve in a role as a music director or children’s director but not as pastors.
