Southern Baptists voted this week on women pastors, IVF and more: What happened?

INDIANAPOLIS — The Southern Baptist Convention made national news this week with votes on women pastors and in vitro fertilization in a wide-ranging annual meeting.

During the meeting in Indianapolis, delegates, called messengers, settled a yearslong debate over a proposed measure to enshrine a ban on women pastors into the constitution of the nation's largest Protestant denomination.

Called the Law Amendment after its original petitioner Virginia pastor Mike Law, the measure failed to garner the two-thirds majority needed for ratification.

Still, the role of women in ministry remains one thing Southern Baptists are divided over and the denomination continues to take a strong stand against churches that diverge from its doctrinal standard. The ousting of a Virginia church cemented the mandate of an all-volunteer committee in reviewing cases of churches with women pastors.

More:Southern Baptists confront future change in wake of uncertainty and division

Church leaders in Mississippi said the Bible is clear about only "qualified men" serving as pastors, so an amendment wasn't necessary.

"The constitution remains as it is," said Shawn Parker, executive director and treasurer of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board. "Amending the constitution really isn't necessary, because our Confession of Faith already confirms that we believe the office of pastor is reserved for qualified men. So, it really wasn't necessary for the constitution to be amended."

Meanwhile, the convention took on an issue it never previously deliberated — in vitro fertilization. Messengers condemn use of the procedure as it's common practice to discard extra frozen embryos and those that won't lead to a viable pregnancy. The move came at the same time Democratic senators attempted to pass IVF legislation. The bill failed in the Senate.

The conclusion of a task force-led abuse reform effort left little guarantees about some of the progress the convention has made in aftermath of a historic crisis. Now, that progress is in the hands of the SBC Executive Committee at a time when the denomination’s administrative arm is facing other financial and legal crises.

What happened?

Major legislative actions at the SBC annual meeting included:

• An amendment to the SBC constitution to enforce the denomination’s doctrinal view that women cannot be pastors failed, despite receiving 61% support. The measure needed a two-thirds majority to pass.
• Messengers overwhelmingly adopted a resolution condemning IVF in the first statement of its kind for the SBC following an emotional floor debate exhibiting divisions among evangelical Christians on the medical practice.
• The SBC Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force concluded its work after completing a few of the original tasks it was established two years ago to oversee. A key success was creating new educational materials for churches on preventing and responding to abuse. The needs the task force did not address in its two years of work, plus other needs the task force identified through its work, moves to the SBC Executive Committee.
• The ouster of First Baptist Church Alexandria in Virginia for its egalitarian stance on women in ministry instead of a complementarian one, referring to a belief that men and women have certain assigned roles. Messengers voted 91% in favor of the church’s ouster, echoing the convention’s similar support at the 2023 annual meeting to uphold the ouster of two churches with women pastors.
• The election North Carolina pastor Clint Pressley for SBC president following a three-round race in which candidates’ stances on the Law Amendment took higher priority than views on abuse reform, a defining issue in previous presidential elections.

Contributing: Melissa Cruz, USA TODAY; Ross Reily, Clarion Ledger.

Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at [email protected] or on social media @liamsadams.