Chapter 14

All About Eve: Kansas City SBC, 1984. The controversy over the role of women in Southern Baptist life was not new in 1984. Almost a century earlier, in 1885, the SBC constitution was changed to seat “brethren” rather than “messengers” to prevent women being regarded as messengers; women were not accepted as messengers with full voting privileges until 1918.^{^[60]}

The Watts Street Baptist Church, Durham, North Carolina, ordained the first Southern Baptist woman, Addie Davis, to the ministry in 1964. By 1997, an estimated 1,400 women had been ordained in the South (not including deacons). ^{^[61]}

The 1984 Kansas City Convention, firmly controlled by Fundamentalists, resisted this trend and opposed the full equality of women in the church by adopting a strongly worded resolution against ordaining women as deacons or pastors.

The resolution gave what purports to be the biblical rationale for the hierarchy of men over women in church life: God requires such submission, the resolution argued, because man was first in creation, while woman was first in the Edenic fall.^{^[62]}

Some who spoke for the resolution at the time made the point that a resolution does not instruct agencies or churches. It only registers the opinion of those attending that convention. True enough! There was no attempt in 1984 or 1985 to threaten the funding or reshape the policy of agencies that employed ordained women or their husbands. But the groundwork was laid for a later year, when Fundamentalists would have majorities on agency and institution boards.^{^[63]}

The 1984 resolution blaming women for sin in the world (for so it was understood) was greeted with surprise and outrage throughout much of the convention. It helped mobilize many who were just beginning to understand the seriousness of the Takeover.

What factors led to the 1984 Kansas City resolution? In the broader society, the changing role of women in society played a part in raising expectations of women who professed a religious calling; and these expectations, in turn, heightened the concerns of godly people over the erosion of family life and the increase in divorce and family strife. There were regional differences in theology and practice as well. “East Coast churches have regularly ordained women, while westerners have generally viewed such action as out and out heresy.”^{^[64}^{^]} The growing presence of ordained women, especially in the eastern churches, alarmed church leaders in the deep south and west who demanded a more traditional approach.

In addition, specific actions in several states combined to call attention to the ordination of women as an issue: ordination of three women deacons by First Baptist Church, Oklahoma City, in face of an associational resolution opposing ordination of women; the disfellowshipping of three California churches that ordained women deacons; the calling of a woman as pastor by a church in Chicago; protests in Montana decrying the fact that the Home Mission Board appointed an ordained woman as a church planter; associational actions on women’s issues in at least seven states; and Home Mission Board president Bill Tanner’s statement that the agency took no position on the ordination of women.^{^[65]}

“Wives Summit Graciously”: Atlanta SBC, 1998. One of the most significant goals of the Fundamentalist faction has been to demand a more traditional approach to family relationships — an approach that affirms a divinely ordained authority of the husband over his wife. The 1998 Southern Baptist Convention approved a new article on the family as an amendment to the thirty-five-year-old Baptist Faith and Message. Adoption of the article marks the first time the Baptist Faith and Message has been changed since its adoption in 1963.

Members of the committee appointed by SBC president Tom Elliff to develop the article said its purpose was to “give a clear call to biblical principles of family life.” However, a statement in the article that “A wife is to submit herself graciously” to her husband drew two amendments, both of which failed in separate votes by show of hands. One failed amendment suggested that “Both husband and wife are to submit graciously to each other as servant leaders in the home, even as the church willingly submits to the lordship of Christ.” The author of the failed amendment, Tim Owings, First Baptist Church, Augusta, Georgia, said he based his amendment on Ephesians 5:21, which states: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” The committee chose to emphasize Ephesians 5:22, stressing the wife’s duty to her husband.^{^[66]}

The New Baptist Faith and Message 2000. Following the SBC’s adoption of the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, which limited the role of pastor to men, and the 2001 motion at the SBC’s annual meeting to stop endorsing ordained women as chaplains, the number of SBC women endorsed as chaplains and counselors has declined. The policy was sealed in February 2002 when the SBC’s North American Mission Board voted to cease endorsing women for chaplaincy roles if they were already ordained or had asked to be ordained. The NAMB voted to stop endorsing women chaplains in cases “where the role and function of the chaplain would be seen the same as that of a pastor.”[67] This decision essentially brought an end to females being ordained by the SBC as military chaplains, due to requirements by military and some federal agencies for both ordination and endorsement.[68] However, it is not entirely clear what the impact has been on ordained SBC women serving as hospital chaplains and pastoral counselors.[69]

Current Conditions. By 2000 about 3,300 women had been ordained by the American Baptist Churches , SBC churches, and CBF-affiliated churches — although some have died and others have retired.[70] The best current figures suggest that almost two thousand women are serving as pastors, local-church staff members, chaplains, missionaries, and seminary-divinity school faculty members. It is unclear how many of this total have been formally ordained.[71] Female deacons are found in perhaps five thousand Baptist churches in the country, of which 15-20 percent are in the South and have been ordained.[72]

[60]. Opening Doors: A brief history of women in ministry in Southern Baptist life, 1868-1993 ( Louisville : Southern Baptist Women in Ministry, n.d.).

[61]. Sarah Frances Anders, Baptist History and Heritage 40 (Summer/Fall 2005): 8-16.

[62]. For another interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:11-15, see Richard Clark Kroeger and Catherine Clark Kroeger, I Suffer Not a Woman: Rethinking 1 Timothy 2:11-15 in Light of Ancient Evidence (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992). Catherine Clark Kroeger is founder and president of Christians for Biblical Equality and an adjunct professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

[i63]. SBC Today, July 1984, 1.

[64]. SBC Today, March-April 1984, 1.

[65]. SBC Today, December 1983, 3.

[66]. Word & Way, June 18, 1998, 3.

67. Reported by Associated Baptist Press, December 16, 2004, as one of the top ten stories of that year. See www.apnews.com/31. article, accessed May 11, 2006.

68. “SBC to cease endorsing ordained female chaplains,” The Baptist Standard, February 18, 2002; www.baptiststandard.com/2002/2_18/ print/endorsing.html/, accessed May 31, 2006.

69. Eileen R. Campbell-Reed and Pamela R. Durso, The State of Women in Baptist Life, 2005 ( Atlanta : Baptist Women in Ministry, 2006).

70. Sarah Frances Anders, “Baptist Women Walking Together in America , 1950-2000, “ Baptist History and Heritage 40 (Summer/Fall 2005): 15.

71. Campbell-Reed and Durso, 2-7.

72. Ibid., 8.





Chapter 14 Tools of a Takeover: Women’s Roles All About Eve: Kansas City SBC, 1984. The controversy over the role of women in Southern Baptist life was not new in 1984. Almost a century earlier, in 1885, the SBC constitution was changed to seat “brethren” rather than “messengers” to prevent women being regarded as messengers; women were not accepted as messengers with full voting privileges until 1918.^{^[60]} The Watts Street Baptist Church, Durham, North Carolina, ordained the first Southern Baptist woman, Addie Davis, to the ministry in 1964. By 1997, an estimated 1,400 women had been ordained in the South (not including deacons). ^{^[61]} The 1984 Kansas City Convention, firmly controlled by Fundamentalists, resisted this trend and opposed the full equality of women in the church by adopting a strongly worded resolution against ordaining women as deacons or pastors. The resolution gave what purports to be the biblical rationale for the hierarchy of men over women in church life: God requires such submission, the resolution argued, because man was first in creation, while woman was first in the Edenic fall.^{^[62]} Some who spoke for the resolution at the time made the point that a resolution does not instruct agencies or churches. It only registers the opinion of those attending that convention. True enough! There was no attempt in 1984 or 1985 to threaten the funding or reshape the policy of agencies that employed ordained women or their husbands. But the groundwork was laid for a later year, when Fundamentalists would have majorities on agency and institution boards.^{^[63]} The 1984 resolution blaming women for sin in the world (for so it was understood) was greeted with surprise and outrage throughout much of the convention. It helped mobilize many who were just beginning to understand the seriousness of the Takeover. What factors led to the 1984 Kansas City resolution? In the broader society, the changing role of women in society played a part in raising expectations of women who professed a religious calling; and these expectations, in turn, heightened the concerns of godly people over the erosion of family life and the increase in divorce and family strife. There were regional differences in theology and practice as well. “East Coast churches have regularly ordained women, while westerners have generally viewed such action as out and out heresy.”^{^[64}^{^]} The growing presence of ordained women, especially in the eastern churches, alarmed church leaders in the deep south and west who demanded a more traditional approach. In addition, specific actions in several states combined to call attention to the ordination of women as an issue: ordination of three women deacons by First Baptist Church, Oklahoma City, in face of an associational resolution opposing ordination of women; the disfellowshipping of three California churches that ordained women deacons; the calling of a woman as pastor by a church in Chicago; protests in Montana decrying the fact that the Home Mission Board appointed an ordained woman as a church planter; associational actions on women’s issues in at least seven states; and Home Mission Board president Bill Tanner’s statement that the agency took no position on the ordination of women.^{^[65]} “Wives Summit Graciously”: Atlanta SBC, 1998. One of the most significant goals of the Fundamentalist faction has been to demand a more traditional approach to family relationships — an approach that affirms a divinely ordained authority of the husband over his wife. The 1998 Southern Baptist Convention approved a new article on the family as an amendment to the thirty-five-year-old Baptist Faith and Message. Adoption of the article marks the first time the Baptist Faith and Message has been changed since its adoption in 1963. Members of the committee appointed by SBC president Tom Elliff to develop the article said its purpose was to “give a clear call to biblical principles of family life.” However, a statement in the article that “A wife is to submit herself graciously” to her husband drew two amendments, both of which failed in separate votes by show of hands. One failed amendment suggested that “Both husband and wife are to submit graciously to each other as servant leaders in the home, even as the church willingly submits to the lordship of Christ.” The author of the failed amendment, Tim Owings, First Baptist Church, Augusta, Georgia, said he based his amendment on Ephesians 5:21, which states: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” The committee chose to emphasize Ephesians 5:22, stressing the wife’s duty to her husband.^{^[66]} *The New Baptist Faith and Message 2000.* Following the SBC’s adoption of the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, which limited the role of pastor to men, and the 2001 motion at the SBC’s annual meeting to stop endorsing ordained women as chaplains, the number of SBC women endorsed as chaplains and counselors has declined. The policy was sealed in February 2002 when the SBC’s North American Mission Board voted to cease endorsing women for chaplaincy roles if they were already ordained or had asked to be ordained. The NAMB voted to stop endorsing women chaplains in cases “where the role and function of the chaplain would be seen the same as that of a pastor.”[67] This decision essentially brought an end to females being ordained by the SBC as military chaplains, due to requirements by military and some federal agencies for both ordination and endorsement.[68] However, it is not entirely clear what the impact has been on ordained SBC women serving as hospital chaplains and pastoral counselors.[69] Current Conditions. By 2000 about 3,300 women had been ordained by the American Baptist Churches , SBC churches, and CBF-affiliated churches — although some have died and others have retired.[70] The best current figures suggest that almost two thousand women are serving as pastors, local-church staff members, chaplains, missionaries, and seminary-divinity school faculty members. It is unclear how many of this total have been formally ordained.[71] Female deacons are found in perhaps five thousand Baptist churches in the country, of which 15-20 percent are in the South and have been ordained.[72] Previous Chapter \| Next Chapter [60]. Opening Doors: A brief history of women in ministry in Southern Baptist life, 1868-1993 ( Louisville : Southern Baptist Women in Ministry, n.d.). [61]. Sarah Frances Anders, Baptist History and Heritage 40 (Summer/Fall 2005): 8-16. [62]. For another interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:11-15, see Richard Clark Kroeger and Catherine Clark Kroeger, I Suffer Not a Woman: Rethinking 1 Timothy 2:11-15 in Light of Ancient Evidence (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992). Catherine Clark Kroeger is founder and president of Christians for Biblical Equality and an adjunct professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. [i63]. SBC Today, July 1984, 1. [64]. SBC Today, March-April 1984, 1. [65]. SBC Today, December 1983, 3. [66]. Word & Way, June 18, 1998, 3. 67. Reported by Associated Baptist Press, December 16, 2004, as one of the top ten stories of that year. See www.apnews.com/31. article, accessed May 11, 2006. 68. “SBC to cease endorsing ordained female chaplains,” The Baptist Standard, February 18, 2002; www.baptiststandard.com/2002/2_18/ print/endorsing.html/, accessed May 31, 2006. 69. Eileen R. Campbell-Reed and Pamela R. Durso, The State of Women in Baptist Life, 2005 ( Atlanta : Baptist Women in Ministry, 2006). 70. Sarah Frances Anders, “Baptist Women Walking Together in America , 1950-2000, “ Baptist History and Heritage 40 (Summer/Fall 2005): 15. 71. Campbell-Reed and Durso, 2-7. 72. Ibid., 8.
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Chapter 14 Tools of a Takeover: Women’s Roles