Women are not allowed to serve as a teaching pastor in a Southern Baptist church. The failure of the so-called Law-Sanchez amendment does nothing to change that. Southern Baptists believe that's a scriptural mandate in 2 Timothy 2:12, which says women may not be in authority over men in a church setting.
The amendment received a vote of 60.7% in favor. It required 66% -- a two-thirds supermajority – to be written into the constitution.
SBC President Clint Pressley told AFR's Jeff Schreve on Real Truth for Today that leaving pulpits to men only is an agreed upon tenet of the denomination.
“I think most people, even those that may have voted against the Sanchez Amendment, I think most of them would say, 'yes, theologically we're on the same page.'”
The Law-Sanchez amendment would have written that doctrine into the SBC Constitution. Right now, it's only in the official doctrinal statement of the SBC, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.
The amendment was first presented at the annual meeting in New Orleans in 2023 and passed with 80% support. Amendments, however, must pass two rounds of voting. Law/Sanchez received 61.4% in Indianapolis last year, slightly less this time around.
Although the Baptist Faith and Message dictates that only men should serve in the office of pastor, the amendment would have clarified to the SBC Credentials Committee how this standard should be implemented.
Pressley says there are two main reasons, in his opinion, that the amendment failed.
One is a desire not to offend anyone.
“We want our tent to be as big as possible. We don't want to send the wrong message that we somehow are against women,” Pressley said.
But he notes the Bible says the cross is offensive to those who don't believe.
The convention and the law
The second reason holds more weight with him, although he still supports the amendment.
In the words of Executive Committee President Jeff Iorg, 'the courts do not interfere with our doctrine, but they do interfere with us when we move something into the constitution and claim it to be a legal standard.'
“Maybe some of it has to do with the lawsuits, maybe some of it has to do with it not being weaponized,” Pressley said.
