Women Pastors

Fewer than one-tenth of one percent of the 41,099 Southern Baptist churches have a woman serving as senior pastor, according to a study by Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Messengers to this year's convention in Orlando revised the denomination's statement of beliefs to specify a conviction that the office of pastor is to be held by a male. In reality, that is the practice of 99.92 percent of the local congregations.

Citing I Timothy 2:9-14, among other Bible passages, the new Baptist Faith and Message 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."

"This study confirms what we have known both by intuition and experience," stated Bill Merrell, vice president for convention relations with the SBC Executive Committee and editor of SBC LIFE . "There are no surprises in it whatsoever."

Merrell emphasized the commitment of Southern Baptists to uphold the teaching of the Bible. "Southern Baptists have, from our beginning, honored Holy Scripture as the final arbiter for Christian faith and church order, including the teaching of the New Testament that the pastorate is limited to men as qualified by the Scripture."