A group of Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) clergy have called for the denomination to reconsider an amendment that would permanently prohibit women from serving as pastors at member churches. Last year, the Amendment, known as the Law Amendment, failed to pass 5 percentage points below the two-thirds support needed to pass last year, The Christian Post reports. A number of SBC persons and ministry leaders are urging the denomination in "An Open Letter to Our Southern Baptist Family," to reconsider the Amendment at the upcoming SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas this June.

"That amendment would have clarified that the Convention will only deem a church to be in friendly cooperation which 'Affirms, appoints, or employs only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture,'" stated the open letter.

"It is apparent that the Credentials Committee needs the clarification that this Amendment would have provided. For that reason, we are supporting a renewed effort to amend the SBC Constitution."

The pastors clarified they were "not offering new language but are supporting an effort to adopt the same language that a majority of the last two conventions wanted to be passed."

For the proposed Amendment to be advanced, the pastors urge the annual meeting "to suspend the standing rule that would put the amendment in the hands of the Executive Committee, which may or may not report out the amendment the following year."

"Because we have already debated this language at the last two conventions, we do not believe that we need to spend another year waiting for the Executive Committee to decide whether to put the amendment before the convention for a vote," they continued.

They shared that they would like to vote on the proposed Amendment, which requires a supermajority to pass, while messengers would give their final consent at the SBC Annual Meeting in 2026.

"We want to be a convention in friendly cooperation with churches that closely identify with our confession of faith, including our clearly stated beliefs about biblical qualifications for pastoral office," they added.

At the present time, Nate Akin, executive director of the Pillar Network; Pastor H.B. Charles of Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida; Lead Pastor Jed Coppenger of First Baptist Church in Cumming, Georgia; Senior Pastor Aaron Harvie of Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky; Pastor Brian Payne of Lakeview Baptist Church in Auburn, Alabama; Senior Pastor Juan Sanchez of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin, Texas; and Senior Pastor Clay Smith of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia have signed the letter.

According to the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, a "pastor" is defined as a person "who fulfills the pastoral office and carries out the pastor's functions," with Article VI explaining that "the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture."

The Law Amendment, named after Pastor Mike Law of Arlington Baptist Church in Virginia, amended the SBC Constitution to clarify no woman can serve as an elder or pastor at member churches.

Although the SBC has severed ties with churches in recent years for having female lead or teaching pastors, Law indicated that women were serving as pastors at approximately 1,800 member congregations.

Former SBC President J.D. Greear criticized the Amendment, calling it "unwise" and "unnecessary" and warning that minority churches would leave the denomination because of it.

"I remain convictionally opposed to this amendment, not because of its content but because of its attempt to undermine our historic principles of cooperation," Greear wrote on his website before last year's vote.

Meanwhile, the Texas-based Baptist Women in Ministry, which has members belonging to numerous Baptist denominations, celebrated the failure of the proposed Amendment.

"We are grateful to churches and messengers represented at the SBC who came to send the message that women have equal value to God. We know that others voted against the Amendment for other reasons, but we hope the message of your support for female pastors will be amplified," the group said in a statement.

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