On Wednesday, June 14, 2023 the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) announced Saddleback church of Orange County, CA had been voted out of the denomination. The vote was recorded as 9,437 votes (88.46%) supporting the removal and 1,212 votes (11.36%) rejecting the removal. This ended an ordeal that officially started at the 2021 SBC annual meeting in Nashville, TN. At that time a member of the SBC named Shadd Tibbs stated to the convention, “[I move that] we the Southern Baptist Convention, of June 2021, break fellowship with Saddleback Church, as they have ordained three ladies as pastors…at the very least, I am asking that the validity of this matter be looked into and report given at the 2022 Convention…” https://www.philipmeade.com/southern-baptist-convention/sbc-2022-annual-meeting-summary/ A committee was formed to consider whether Saddleback church was “in friendly cooperation with the Convention” or not.
The following year the SBC met for an annual meeting in Anaheim, CA on June 14-15th. A special committee was formed to determine whether Saddleback church was using the title of “pastor” appropriately or not. This was an interesting question because from a Biblical perspective the role and office of pastor is the same as that of an elder and overseer of the church (Eph. 4:11; 1 Tim. 3:1-7, 5:17-19; Titus 1:5-7) . The leadership of Saddleback had separated the ministry of shepherding or pastoring people from the office of pastor/elder/overseer. The argument was made by the leadership of the church that women could be given the title of “pastor” because they were serving in pastoral roles without infringing on the Biblical guidelines for men to fulfill the office of a pastor.
At the time the SBC document “The Baptist Faith & Message” stated: “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” In 2022, Pastor Rick Warren spoke from the floor at the SBC annual meeting in Anaheim. He called for unity within the SBC and asked the convention “are we going to treat each other as allies or adversaries?” He stated that he did not expect to return the following year. It seemed likely that Saddleback church would be disfellowshipped from the convention.
In September of 2022, pastor Rick Warren retired from his role at Saddleback church. He was replaced by his successor, pastor Andy Wood who became the executive pastor of the church. Pastor Andy’s wife Stacie, became the main teaching pastor at Saddleback church.
On February 21, 2023 the SBC Executive Committee ruled that three churches would be removed from the denomination. The churches appealed and on June 14th, the entire Southern Baptist Convention, was given the opportunity to rule in support or in rejection of having Saddleback church and the two other churches removed from the church.
The 2023 SBC convention took place in New Orleans, LA from June 13-14. Over twelve thousand SBC members, who are known as messengers, attended the convention. They were allowed to hear an appeal from pastor Rick Warren from the floor of the convention. With the three minutes he was given, he asked the convention “why should this one issue cancel our fellowship?” In response, Dr. Al Mohler spoke on behalf of the Executive Committee. He put the issue in historical perspective and reminded everyone that the words “the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture” was inserted into the SBC documents because “thirty years ago this issue threatened to tear this denomination apart.” Dr. Mohler said, “This is not just an issue of church polity. This is not just a matter of hermeneutics. It is a matter of Biblical commitment, a commitment to the Scripture that unequivocally, we believe, limits the office of pastor to men.” After hearing the appeal and the response the convention voted to remove Saddleback church from the denomination.
The Executive Committee also agreed to change the wording of the Baptist Faith & Message document to state that every church in the SBC “affirms, appoints, or employs only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture.” This addition will need to be approved for two years in a row and then it will be officially added to the SBC documents.
I am not a part of the SBC, but I still find it helpful to follow this story because it brings clarity to an issue that churches around the world struggle with. Can women be given the title of pastor without serving in the office of elder/pastor/overseer? Can the title of pastor be separated from that of an elder? 1 Timothy 3:2 makes it clear that only men should be elders. It states, “Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife.” There should be no disagreement over the gender of an elder and a careful reading of the original intent of Scripture reveals that there should be no disagreement over the gender of a pastor as well.
