There was a lot going on at the Southern Baptist Convention this week, including an important presidential election, the commissioning of missionaries, and more. But perhaps the most talked-about item is Albert Mohler’s “Truth & Unity Amendment.” Dr. Mohler announced his intention to move this amendment just last month, and ever since then I have been laser-focused on doing all I can to help with the effort to get it across the finish line.
The amendment would revise our constitution to specify that churches with female pastors or with women who preach to the gathered assembly are not in friendly cooperation with the convention. In other words, the amendment is simply an attempt to make explicit in our constitution what the vast majority of Southern Baptists already believe and what is reflected in our doctrinal statement, The Baptist Faith & Message.
The measure passed overwhelmingly on the floor of the convention (75% to 25%), but it must get a two-thirds supermajority at next year’s convention before it becomes a part of the SBC Constitution. Which means that this thing is far from over. Based on this year’s result, I heard some people predicting that this amendment is going to be adopted easily next year in Indianapolis. I couldn’t disagree more with that notion, and I’m concerned that Southern Baptists may become complacent if that attitude sets in.
The truth is that there is a determined minority in the SBC who for a variety of reasons don’t want this amendment. I expect them to pull out all the stops before next year’s meeting and at next year’s meeting in order to defeat this amendment. And their task is a straightforward one. They can defeat this amendment simply by winning 34 percent of the vote. That’s only about 9 points more than the 25% they got this year. They are going to turn out their vote in Indianapolis, and they are going to be making the case between now and next year that Southern Baptists don’t need this amendment. If they can get 34% of the messengers in Indy to agree with them, they win, and the amendment dies.
I suspect we will see a litany of specious arguments over the next year: “We don’t need this”; “This is a made-up problem”; “Amendment supporters are being divisive”; “Those people just don’t like women”; “They’re against women in ministry”; “They wanna kick your church out for having a female children’s director”; “They don’t want women to share the gospel or their testimonies”; and on and on it will go. And those of us who support the amendment will have to answer those arguments in turn.
But when you boil it all down, many of their arguments are going to amount to this: It’s bad for Southern Baptists to apply consistently the Bible’s teaching about the qualifications for pastor. They will argue that the SBC is stronger when it makes space for cooperating churches to have women named as pastors and sometimes preaching to the men and women of the congregation.
They are not going to make the case for female senior pastors or for a woman being the primary Sunday morning preacher. They would lose with those arguments because Southern Baptists aren’t egalitarian. Not by a longshot. Opponents are going to argue for cooperating with churches that have women named as associate pastors and that allow women to preach occasionally to the gathered assembly. If they can get an additional 9% of messengers to agree with them about that, they will defeat the amendment next year in Indy.
I am writing this because I don’t want supporters of this amendment to become complacent. This is not the time for that. You need to start making plans now to send your full slate of messengers to Indianapolis next summer. As your church starts its budget cycle later this year, set aside whatever you need to set aside to make sure your pastor and whatever messengers you can support are able to attend the meeting in Indy.
My hope and prayer is that Southern Baptists will not be scared away from their own doctrinal standards by fallacious arguments. We need to show up in Indy and get this thing done. I look forward to seeing you there.
Photo Credit: The Baptist Paper photo
