Julie Pennington Russell called me last month. I had just finished a centering prayer group, a practice Pastor Julie helped nurture in me, and I began to weep when I saw her name on my phone. I was so grateful to have her reach out to me at that time.
The next week, Mary Alice Birdwhistell was back in Waco. Again, I was moved to tears to spend time with her during what has been a very difficult season in my life.
These women — along with Linda McKinnish Bridges, Lynda Weaver Williams, Dorisanne Cooper, Ali Chappel DeHay, and Baptist Women in Ministry Executive Director Meredith Stone — have been among the most influential pastors in my life. I clearly need a lot of pastoral care!
Jon Singletary
And I need the pastoral care of women in my life. I would argue we all do. I am not a believer in strict gender roles, by any means, but I do sense different gifts and skills in different people and often women are raised in ways that engender nurture and care. At times I want to challenge this; and at times I welcome it and receive this care as the gift of God it is to me and so many of us.
Only somewhat jokingly, I often say I am not sure men have the same gifting to be able to serve in pastoral roles. And yet, joking aside, women lead less than 10% of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship congregations. They lead less than 1% of Texas Baptist churches.
This is a clear sign we have work to do. To the men leading 99% of these Texas churches, many of whom say they support women in ministry, let me reiterate, we have work to do.
This month, BWIM released the 20th anniversary edition of “The State of Women in Baptist Life,” a report that reflects the realities women face in ministry and guides us toward a more just and faithful future.
The 2025 report is a testament to both progress and persistence. It celebrates the growing number of women ordained, the increase in female pastors and chaplains, and the rising enrollment of women in theological education. It also names the enduring gap between affirmation and action — a gap that continues to undermine the flourishing of women called to lead.
A distinctive of this report is the recognition not only of hostile forms of sexism we typically understand to exist in the church, but also the far-too-pervasive experiences of benevolent sexism, where churches may be taking steps to affirm and nurture women while also reinforcing caregiving roles, expectations for appearance and, as a result, limiting the power and autonomy women have to offer as they lead. These are the things women hear all the time that if were shared publicly would be horrifying.
Each of us can sit with this list and consider the ways we can help advocate for change in the lives of our churches. None of us can sit idly by as our churches declare a support for women yet call man after man to serve as our pastors.
The last report, in 2021, closed with a clear statement of the struggle: “Although many Baptist bodies claim support of women in ministry, there is clearly still a large gap between what is professed and what is practiced.”
We still see and feel the gap women experience in 2025. This year’s report, however, offers words of hope and celebration. In a year that is full of struggle and doubt, it is truly a gift of grace to see these words of hope. We can hear the words of this report as a reminder of the hard work that is taking place to provide another way forward.
The report includes data on women’s ordination in Baptist life and on women serving in pastoral roles and other ministry settings. I mentioned the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, but they have seen significant growth among female pastors, from 105 in 2021 to 142 in 2025. While this is still only 10% of CBF churches, it is an increase by one-third across these four years.
“One of the ways we resist gendered oppression is to celebrate each time patriarchy’s hold on Baptists is defeated.”
There are about 50 new female ordinations in Baptist life in recent years, with almost 3,000 we have recognized over the last 50 years. There are about 400 female pastors across Baptist denominations in 2025 (compared to about 300 in 2021) and 800 endorsed chaplains and counselors (compared to 500 in 2021).
As Executive Director Meredith Stone shares in the report, “One of the ways we resist gendered oppression is to celebrate each time patriarchy’s hold on Baptists is defeated.”
BWIM is shaping the environment for congregational life to support women in ministry in new ways. At the same time, our churches are doing the hard work of creating space for women to lead and serve in new and exciting ways. We do still have work to do to assure that women thrive in leadership and until we reach 50% in every category and denomination, we know there is more work to be done.
In a challenging sociopolitical climate where darkness is all around, I am grateful to have evidence of the lights that are shining ever more brightly — the light of life in women who are leading with courage and clarity, of churches that nurture and support their calling, and of BWIM and the institutional courage they provide.
Jon E. Singletary holds the Diana R. Garland Endowed Chair of Child and Family Studies in the School of Social Work at Baylor University, where he previously served as dean. He is a board member of Baptist Women in Ministry.
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