Southern Baptist Convention faces issues of declining numbers, women pastors, use of 'abuse reform' database

Saddleback Church has a broad reach. (Photo via saddleback.com)

The Southern Baptist Convention faces pivotal decisions on female pastors and sexual abuse oversight at this week's yearly gathering in New Orleans. "Messengers, as representatives from thousands of Southern Baptist churches are called, will vote on whether to sustain the convention's executive-committee decision to expel some churches from the denomination because they had women serving as pastors," reports Adolfo Flores of The Wall Street Journal. "This year's election for president is being seen as a referendum on the denomination's efforts over the past year to hold abusers accountable and protect members of the church."

In February, the convention's Executive Committee voted to exclude Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville "for having a woman pastor — the same issue it cited for expelling four other churches," including the huge Saddleback Church in Southern California, reports Peter Smith of The Associated Press. "All Baptist churches are independent, so the convention can't tell them what to do; however, it can decide which churches are 'not in friendly cooperation,' the official verbiage for an expulsion."

The issue of women as lead pastors is emotionally and theologically debated. "The SBC's official statement of faith says the office of pastor is reserved for men, but this is believed to be the first time the convention has expelled any churches over it. Both of the congregations say Baptists should be able to agree to disagree — while making a common cause for evangelism," Smith reports. Rev. Linda Barnes Popham, pastor of Fern Creek for the past 30 years, told him: "I want to worship under that same umbrella and do missions together like Southern Baptists have done all of these years. . . .We want women to rise up and be able to answer God's call, just like men do."

Convention members will also decide whether to approve continuation of the convention’s Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force, Flores writes: "The task force is expected to present a database it has been developing over the past year of pastors, denominational workers, ministry employees and volunteers who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse." Jason DeRose of NPR notes, "Parts of this church are under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department because of the way it handled earlier sexual misconduct. And all of this is happening at the same time as an election to decide the [convention's] next president. . . . The incumbent is facing a challenger."

The deployment and use of the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force's database is a sticking point in the election, alongside declining membership. "Bart Barber, the sitting president, is being challenged for a second term by an opponent who has questioned aspects of the database," Flores reports. Mike Stone, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Blackshear, Ga. . . . said he sought the nomination, in part, because an audit of the SBC Executive Committee found that it was on an unsustainable financial trajectory. The troubling finances, Stone said, are part of an overall decline in the number of members and churches that he said he would rectify through an evangelistic outreach initiative."