One week after election day 2024, I found myself in another room where I needed to cast my vote.
As a messenger to the 2024 Baptist General Convention of Texas annual meeting, I would need to vote on a motion for the BGCT to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message.
For those unfamiliar with the nuances of the various Baptist groups in Texas, the Baptist General Convention of Texas is one of the few Baptist state conventions that refrained from adopting the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message when it was first introduced by the Southern Baptist Convention.
Meredith Stone
Among many, one of the reasons the BGCT did not adopt the revised statement was a line added in the 2000 version: “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 contrast to the 2000 statement, the BGCT has maintained that how women serve in ministry is a matter of local church autonomy rather than a matter of doctrinal alignment necessary for cooperation.
So when time came to debate the motion to affirm this statement, I couldn’t have been the only one who noticed that every person who stood up and got in line to speak for and against the motion was male.
While both men and women would be affected, the lives of women who are called by God to serve among Texas Baptists would be the most impacted if the statement was affirmed. Yet, no woman stood to speak.
The male speakers against affirming the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message spoke eloquently, persuasively, and I am deeply grateful for how the callings of women were specifically affirmed.
But after one of the male speakers on the other side began to deride women, our callings and our ability to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, I decided I would get up and stand in line for the microphone so women were represented at least visually.
Gratefully, the motion did not pass and the statement was not adopted. But the fact that women either felt their voices would not be valued or that they would not be safe to speak is significant.
After the business session concluded, a special panel had been planned for different perspectives on women in ministry among the BGCT to be represented. The room was packed.
Seven people were on the stage for this special event — six were men, and only one was a woman. A couple of the male panelists spoke with affirming and supportive words, while the other male panelists presented views that were painfully limiting to women. In the midst of this inhospitable environment, the lone female panelist on the stage represented women in ministry with boldness, thoughtfulness and generosity of spirit for her fellow panelists.
“It was striking that only one woman was asked to participate in a panel for which the subject was women.”
Like the absence of women at the microphones for a critical debate, it was striking that only one woman was asked to participate in a panel for which the subject was women.
I will be among the first to loudly proclaim that we need to hear from men on the matter of how women serve in ministry, but we also need to hear from at least as many women as men on the subject.
Unity and continued cooperation were celebrated by several of the male panelists as the most desirable conclusion of the discussion. But it is much easier to speak of unity on this issue as male pastors and professors.
If unity comes at the cost of women continuing to be devalued, diminished, disrespected and rejected, that does not seem like the gospel unity embodied by Jesus. But it is hard to know the cost of unity when the voices of those who have to sacrifice the most are not being heard.
One week ago on Election Day, I put on my “Listen to Women” T-shirt as I headed to the closest polling location to my house. After casting my ballot, I placed my “I voted” sticker on my shirt, took a picture and posted it to social media with the following caption:
I feel like this shirt sums up a lot about 2024 for me.
When women say they have been called by God to be ministers of the gospel, listen to women.
When women preach the gospel, listen to women.
When women say they have been sexually assaulted (even if they are accusing someone who has tremendous power or influence), listen to women.
When women say they are experiencing harassment or discrimination in the church or anywhere, listen to women.
When decisions are being made about women, or discussions are being had about women’s rights or what women need, listen to women.
When women say they should be able to vote freely, secretly, and independently, listen to women.
When women say they are afraid for their lives because of their loss of access to reproductive health care, listen to women.
In the documentary Midwives of a Movement Lynda Weaver-Williams says, “The presence of women’s stories and women’s lives will change the world.”
Let’s listen to women and change the world.
One week later, this is still my theme song.
In these moments, my mind keeps going back to the resurrection stories in the Gospels. As the women discovered the empty tomb, the divine messengers (Matthew 28:7; Mark 16:7) or Jesus himself (John 20:17) instructed the women to go and tell the news of the resurrection.
Where would we be if Jesus’ other followers hadn’t listened to the women when they brought this news?
But they did listen.
When Jesus’ followers listened to the women that first Easter morning, they were able to receive the hope of Jesus’ resurrection and know that the living Christ would continue to redeem the world through them.
When they listened to women, it changed the world.
It’s not too late. When we listen to women, we can change the world too.
Meredith Stone serves as executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry. She lives in Waco, Texas.