Using Christian tradition and dogma to oppose women in ministry is like clinging to outdated technology to listen to music, author and pastor Otis Moss III said. “The problem is we have 8-track churches in a streaming world, and we…
On women, aliens and when power usurps love
Then turning toward the woman, (Jesus) said to Simon, “Do you see this woman?” — Luke 7:44 My mother-in-law and her brother often use a repeating trope: “When the aliens come” we’ll be ready or not ready because we…
American Baptists reaffirm and celebrate women in ministry
Editor’s note: This article has been expanded and updated from its original version. The board of directors of American Baptist Home Mission Societies issued a statement June 24 saying it “wholeheartedly affirms women pastors.” And last week’s biennial meeting…
Another megachurch leaves the SBC
Another megachurch where a woman has preached has left the Southern Baptist Convention. Elevation Church in Charlotte, N.C., led by Pastor Steven Furtick and his wife, Holly, voluntarily withdrew from the SBC just two weeks after the denomination voted to…
Baptist Women in Ministry marks 40th anniversary by blessing women cast out by the SBC
Meredith Stone opened Baptist Women in Ministry’s 40th anniversary celebration dinner with spontaneous and scathing remarks about the Southern Baptist Convention’s continuing assault on female clergy. “Forty years later and we are still talking about the SBC,” quipped Stone, BWIM’s…
Women’s leadership in the church is a primary issue
As an associate pastor, I made weekly hospital visits. The church’s size meant it was not unusual for me to meet church members for the first time in the hospital, which was what happened one Thursday morning when I knocked…
The SBC just put the nail in its own coffin
I am thinking back on the past and looking at the present for the Southern Baptist Convention, the denominational body in which I was brought up and educated but which I left completely when the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message…
There is no way to be against racism and ethnic discrimination but remain in support of sexism and gender discrimination
Christine A. Smith calls sexism in the church’s ongoing life “the stained-glass ceiling” — the invisible but often impenetrable limits imposed upon female clergy. The stained-glass ceiling takes many forms. Among the most common are differences in salary between men…
At this Baptist gathering, there will be no debate about women preaching
The national media won’t be on hand, and there aren’t likely to be hot debates over women in ministry when the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship gathers in Atlanta next week for its General Assembly. The largest of two breakaway groups from…