SBC & Women Preachers (Response to Bryan Meadows)

The SBC Decision and the Charge of American Christianity

I was asked to review a video by a friend which comes from the Instagram page of Pastor Brian Meadows. In it, he has a word to say about the recent decision by the Southern Baptist Convention to uphold their position forbidding women pastors.

The Southern Baptist Convention said we don't believe in women preachers and there were several prominent churches in the convention that said, hey, we believe in women preachers and you know what the Baptist Convention did, they kicked them out.

Y 'all real quiet in here, man. That's a scary day when you got large Christian denominations kicking other churches out because they believe women can preach, but hear me, that's American Christianity.

The American Jesus can't stand women. It would rather call every female an evangelist, put a towel on your head, sit there and shut up, but the Jesus of the Bible, no, no, no, no, he will go to the woman at the well.

Why the Claim About Women Pastors Is Incorrect

All right. So let's talk about it. First, I know nothing about Brian Meadows or his teaching. So this is not an address about him personally. However, he is making a claim which is simply incorrect. He blamed the prohibition of women pastors to be the fault of American Christianity.

Now it is true that the Southern Baptist Convention did originate in America and it's also true that Americanized Christianity is the culprit of many crimes against scripture. But the prohibition of women pastors is not one of them.

The limitation of the pastoral position to men is the majority report within church history. In fact, neither the Roman Catholic Church nor the Eastern Orthodox Church ordain women to the positions in the clergy.

It really only happens in certain Protestant denominations. And this is based primarily on the scriptures which use masculine identifiers to describe pastoral qualifications, as well as 1 Timothy 2 .12, which forbids women to teach or to exercise authority over men.

Even considering the supposed biblical examples of women preaching, such as the woman at the well, the women at the tomb, or other examples, the concept of ordaining women pastors is a relatively recent historical development.

The Recent History of Women’s Ordination

Antoinette Brown Blackwell was the first woman to be ordained by a major American Protestant denomination, and that was not until 1853. It wasn't until 1956, over 100 years later, that the Methodist Church granted women full clergy rights.

Women pastors are prominent within Pentecostal churches, but that movement didn't officially begin until the early 20th century. So to say that forbidding female preachers is because of American Christianity is simply false.

Why the Argument Is a Red Herring

Even suggesting such a thing is to engage in what's called a red herring, which is distracting from the most important issue and focusing on a secondary and ultimately unimportant issue. It really doesn't matter how American or un-American is the ordination of women pastors.

What matters is what does the Bible say. The SPC has many problems, and that is without a doubt. But on this issue, they are actually in accord with the majority teaching of church history. This has nothing to do with them being American, or Southern, or even Baptist.

And to suggest that it does is more about arousing emotions than it is to engage the facts.