Southern Baptists Vote To Advance A Formal Ban On Churches With Women Pastors

Southern Baptists vote to advance a formal ban on churches with women pastors after messengers on June 9 backed Albert Mohler’s effort to bring a constitutional amendment to the floor at the Annual Meeting in Orlando. The vote suspended Standing Rule 6 and put the proposal up for debate at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday.

Mohler Amendment In Orlando

Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, moved to amend Article 3 of the SBC Constitution so a cooperating Southern Baptist church would not “affirm, appoint or endorse a woman serving in the office or function of a pastor/elder/overseer, specifically preaching to the assembled congregation.” His proposed language would make the restriction part of the denomination’s governing document rather than a policy statement.

The action came after the Committee on Order of Business recommended sending the motion to the Executive Committee. Messengers instead voted to suspend Standing Rule 6 on a raised-ballot vote, allowing the amendment to stay in play for Wednesday.

Task Force Motions Rejected

Messengers also effectively killed six motions that requested task forces to study a range of issues. Benjamin Cole of North Carolina led the push against referring five of those motions to the Executive Committee, calling them “extraneous tasks and ongoing studies that are far afield from its ministry assignment.”

After voting not to refer the five task force motions, messengers then voted to indefinitely postpone them. One motion seeking a committee to study why some evangelicals convert to Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy was referred to incoming President Willy Rice and then defeated by a motion to indefinitely postpone it. Two other motions were referred automatically to the Executive Committee because they dealt with amendments to the Convention’s governing documents.

Jeff Iorg And The Budget Fight

Cole also tied the debate to another issue raised by Executive Committee president Jeff Iorg, who told messengers about the proposed 2026-27 Cooperative Program Allocation Budget. Cole said, “The Executive Committee has become for the Southern Baptist Convention like ancient Israelites, whose quota of bricks has been increased while their ration of straw has been eliminated.” He added, “Brothers, sisters, let us not demand more bricks while denying them essential straw.”

Twenty motions made Tuesday afternoon still awaited action Wednesday by the Committee on Order of Business. For messengers, that left Mohler’s amendment as the main scheduled test of whether Article 3 would be changed to bar churches from affirming women in those pastoral roles.