In case you missed it, the Southern Baptist Convention got into a bit of a tussle at this year’s annual meeting over the definition of the word “pastor.”
What provoked the tussle was the fact that in recent years Saddleback Community Church, a SBC church, installed several women as pastors. This seems to contradict the SBC’s statement of faith, The Baptist Faith & Message 2000. It reads:
a church’s “scriptural officers are pastors and deacons”; and “While both men and women are gifted for service, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”
Contrary to bullet point 2, Saddleback has female pastors. Contrary to bullet point 1, they justify female pastors by dividing the pastoral office from the elder office. The question is then, should the SBC remove them from membership in the convention?
It’s easy to fall into a debate over the second bullet limiting the office of elder to men. Yet often it’s our treatment of the first line that creates the confusion about the second line.
Are there really only two offices in a church? If so, what do we make of a “minister of music” or a “children’s director” or
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