“We are grieved at the direction the SBC has taken,” the church said in a statement…
— from ‘Southern Baptists are poised to ban churches with women pastors. Some are urging them to reconsider.’ by Associated Press reporter Peter Smith, June 6, 2024.
I’ve never attended a Southern Baptist church, for various reasons, but I will state, emphatically, that the presence of a female pastor has never been one of the reasons.
I think female pastors are, in general, kind of cute. The older ones included.
I also appreciate women who are not Southern Baptist pastors. In fact, my appreciation for women led me to be married, to a woman, for a certain length of time.
But as a thoughtful French writer correctly stated, circa 1340:
Trop grande familiarité engendre mesprisement.
“Too much familiarity breeds contempt.”
(I assume this French writer was also married for a certain length of time.)
You might think a person could hardly be expected to become too familiar with a female pastor, from listening to her sermon once a week, on Sunday. But even once a week is liable to breed contempt for women pastors among Southern Baptists, apparently.
The Baptist Faith and Message — the statement of faith of the Southern Baptist Convention, as amended in 2000 — states very clearly:
Article VI. The Church. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.
You’d think everyone could easily understand that message. But certain affiliated churches have been allowing females to serve as ‘associate pastors’, despite the fact that women are not qualified by Scripture. (As we are all quite aware.) In a few Southern Baptist churches, even senior pastors have been females, if you can believe it. Until they get caught in the act.
Ninety-two percent of the delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting last week voted to expel one such church from its ranks. Representatives at the convention voted 6,759 to 563 to kick out First Baptist Church of Alexandria, in Virginia… an historic congregation that (mistakenly) affirms women can serve in any pastoral role, including as a senior pastor.
According to AP reporter Peter Smith, “The Virginia congregation has been involved in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination since its 19th century founding and has contributed millions toward denominational causes. But it came under scrutiny after the pastor of a neighboring church reported it to denominational authorities over its having a woman as pastor for children and women.”
The pastor of that neighboring church was, presumably, a man. And a nosy man to boot. Of course, women can be nosy, just like men… but they can’t be qualified by Scripture.
The Southern Baptist Conference issued similar walking papers to a couple of other member churches last year. Soon enough, all the Scripture-offending SBC churches will be found out and expelled, I imagine.
Following the vote at last week’s convention vote, the current pastor of First Baptist Church of Alexandria, Robert Stephens, commented: “This is a sad moment for us, but we also recognize that God has a future for First Baptist Church.”
First Baptist’s female pastor for children and women, Kim Eskridge, was a bit more upbeat. “We have good news to share with the world, and we will keep doing that.”
She didn’t elaborate on exactly what good news that might be, but whatever it is, we can assume it will be shared with children and women, at the very least.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all.