A years-long campaign to ban women’s ordination in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has prompted the 155-year-old First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Florida, to leave its ranks.
The church announced its decision in anticipation of a vote at the SBC’s annual national conference on an amendment to ban churches with female pastors. At 12.3 million members, the SBC is America’s largest Protestant denomination.
“To treat women as other than or less than — and that includes where and how they can serve — I just don’t think that honors God,” First Baptist pastor Ray Johnson told Roys Report (RR). “I don’t believe that’s the design for the church.”
Local church delegates, called “messengers,” approved the amendment June 10 in Orlando, Florida, with 74.6% voting in favor. The amendment must pass at next year’s meeting to take effect.
The “Truth and Unity Amendment” is the official title of the measure, but First Baptist church administrator Greg Magruder questions whether the vote brought unity. He told RR that this northern Florida congregation, which has ordained female pastors since at least 1984, had hoped to stay in the SBC and work through the differences.
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“The truth is, we as a church have never wanted to be kicked out of an association or try to cause any kind of disturbance,” Magruder told RR. “It wasn’t our choice. They’ve kind of pushed us out.”
At a March semiannual meeting of the local North Central Florida Baptist Association (NCFBA), officials voted to disfellowship from First Baptist because of the church’s female pastors. NCFBA, a regional association, partners with the statewide Florida Baptist Convention, which is associated with the SBC.
The expulsion came despite Johnson’s message to the NCFBA meeting.
“(Johnson) reminded the association that all Christians interpret Scripture imperfectly and should approach one another with grace rather than punitive action,” Magruder wrote in a press release issued May 28.
Seeing the handwriting on the wall, Magruder said, First Baptist left all three associations on April 26.
Ahead of this week’s SBC annual conference, Magruder wrote about First Baptist’s decision in a press release first published May 28 in Baptist News Global.
“As 20,000 expected messengers gather in June in Orlando, the Southern Baptist Convention plans to further dismantle a great denomination once united around missions and evangelism,” Magruder wrote. “Through a proposed constitutional amendment, women will be further excluded in ministry and pastoral leadership.”
Advocates of the amendment say a change is needed to keep the SBC from getting liberal.
“There’s a great line that divides liberal and biblical evangelicalism, and you can see it on this very issue,” said Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, author of the amendment. “The trajectory of liberal denominations is clear.”
On June 9, SBC members voted in a new president, Florida pastor Willy Rice, who has said he believes the denomination has become “woke” and liberal. He also supports the ban on women pastors, calling it biblical.
RR emailed and called the SBC, NCFBA and the FBC for their response to First Baptist’s exit. The NCFBA and FBC were unavailable for comment.
The SBC sent a statement, saying, in part, “Partnering churches agree to the convention’s statement of faith and voluntarily fund global missions, domestic churches, seminaries and disaster relief through the Cooperative Program.”
Ongoing debate
In 2000, the SBC approved an official faith statement called the Baptist Faith and Message. Its list of beliefs includes an error-free Bible, baptism by immersion and allowing only men as elders and pastors.
Long before this point, some Baptist churches, including First Baptist of Gainesville, ordained pastors. Each Southern Baptist church is considered autonomous, with no hierarchy outside its own doors. A pastor in the SBC is ordained in individual churches rather than on a denominational level.
Johnson told RR that First Baptist was part of the three Baptist associations since its founding. It was, he added, of the longest-standing members of the NCFBA and the FBC. First Baptist’s website describes a history of “working cooperatively with other churches and faith groups” and being an early leader in encouraging racial integration. Some of First Baptist’s female members served on NCFBA’s boards and committees.
Though the SBC’s statement of faith has excluded women from pastoral roles since 2000, only in recent years has it banned member churches with female pastors.
In 2021, Saddleback Church in California, one of the SBC’s largest churches, ordained women as pastors. The SBC responded by ousting Saddleback and began the process of amending its constitution to ban female pastors, as RR previously reported.
Only in 2025 did the NCFBA formally affirm the SBC’s 2000 Faith and Message statement that includes the ban. But since 2000, some in NCFBA have attempted to ban churches with female pastors, Magruder said.
‘We’re not going to fight this battle anymore’
Johnson first noticed changed views about women as pastors when he returned to the United States after being an SBC missionary in the Philippines in the 1980s. Some Baptist seminaries had begun restricting women’s roles and firing female professors.
Johnson first noticed changed views about women as pastors when he returned to the United States after being an SBC missionary in the Philippines in the 1980s. Some Baptist seminaries had begun restricting women’s roles and firing female professors.
“I literally cried tears over it,” Johnson told the RR.
In recent years, Johnson told the RR, he realized he was dealing with a pastoral issue. The relationship between churches and denominational associations is a financial one, with churches contributing funds. But it’s also a discipleship one, with an association sharing resources with churches.
“I don’t want a church that uses materials or whatnot that does not honor the role of women in all aspects of life and aspects of church leadership,” Johnson said. “I don’t believe that is healthy for our women or for our men, for that matter.”
He added, “We also do not want to contribute to them to sustain their effort to further denigrate women and further alienate them from life in the church.”
Some of First Baptist’s staff and members have grieved their departure from these long-held relationships, he said. For others, it’s a relief.
“Once the association decided to kick us out, all of us knew, all right, it’s coming, we’re not going to fight this battle anymore,” Johnson told RR. “Let’s just leave and send our money elsewhere.”
An earlier version of this story showed photos of First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Georgia. We apologize and regret this error.
Rebecca Hopkins is a journalist based in Colorado.
22 Responses
We can will-fully disregard YHWH’s Instructions for Life all that we want (as far as He allows without striking us dead, that is) but it will not end well.
What instructions are you referring to?
From Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 to Revelation chapter 22 verse 21 for every Word of YHWH is Truth. He does not lie.
hey everyone – Craig and Karen and the SBC have figured it out. After over 2000 years, innumerable councils, schisms, translations of translations, diverging interpretations, hundreds of denominations, literal wars over interpretation…Craig and Karen and Albert Mohler have cracked it. Be sure to direct all questions to them and the SBC for your source of absolute dogmatic truth – thank God we finally have absolute certainty after all this time.
The SBC decision to ban churches that ordain women as pastors and elders is sad and personally angering. But maybe it is a good thing if enough SBC congregations deliberately violate the ban and get kicked out and then covenant with a denomination or association that values women as Christ does. The SBC decision smells like a deeper malaise in the denomination’s theology.
First, the denomination’s position is rooted in a theological conviction about church offices and authority. Many conservative churches believe Scripture reserves the offices of elder and senior pastor for qualified men. This belief is not meant to diminish women, whose contributions are essential to church life, but to follow what they understand the Bible to teach about church leadership and teaching authority. Second, when a denomination changes direction, Christians generally have two options: remain and seek reform from within, or separate. Separation can be a biblical response when foundational doctrines are abandoned, but it should be reserved for clear and significant issues. Not every disagreement warrants division. Where Scripture is less clear, patience, charity, and thoughtful dialogue are often the wiser course. Third, concerns about a “deeper malaise” often arise when people perceive broader theological shifts within a denomination. Changes in views on pastoral qualifications may be seen as connected to wider trends affecting biblical authority and doctrine. In such cases, some churches and leaders believe they must address the drift and, if necessary, separate from organizations they believe no longer uphold biblical teaching. Finally, those who disagree with the SBC should respond with both conviction and wisdom: affirm the value and ministry of women in the many roles Scripture commends, hold firmly to what they believe Scripture teaches about church leadership, and carefully discern whether faithful engagement or separation is the appropriate response. Whatever course is chosen, it should be guided by prayer, Scripture, and a desire to remain faithful to Christ.
I hope and pray this means we’ll see more churches like this band together and form an association that honors women. I just want a church where I can serve how I’m led.
Sick and tired of people saying that the SBC does not value women. That is a non-starter. This is nothing more than putting how we “feel” above what the word of God says. God values women…let that sink in. The SBC values women…let that sink in…God created male and female and we are DIFFERENT in order for God to bring us together as one. There are MANY women who are excellent communicators, that is not the issue. The ISSUE is the role that God created for men and women. All the examples in scripture of what various women have done had nothing to do with church governance….GOOD GRIEF!
I’m sick and tired, too, that feelings or human reasoning is held in higher regard than the clear distinctives from God’s word concerning the differing roles of men and women withing the setting of church governance. The Apostle Paul clearly defined that God ordained the role of pastor within the church in this age of grace to be occupied by men. Women who want to stand behind the pulpit are rebelliously defying God’s ordained role for them and usurping God’s order. They should have more reverence and fear of the Lord than to be openly disobedient, based on personal preferences rather than submitting to holy scripture.
Paul had female leaders in churches. He describes Phoebe as his benefactor/protector/leader. Prostasis is a very broad word.
Your post saddens me, Sheryl. There seems to be so much “emotionally beating others up” within the church if there is a different point of view and I experience that in your post. I hear oppression and judgment, without trying to understand why some people believe women are called to be pastors or elders. Here is a statement from Bridgetown Church (in Portland, OR) where women serve in pastor and elder roles. It is not based on feelings, desires, or human reasoning. It is scripture with biblical and historical context. The statement is not trying to sway anyone, but has the approach of “these are our reasons based on scripture.” Can we learn with humility? And let others be free to follow the Lord as he leads them? From reading this I learned many of the churches in the book of Acts were led by women! I wonder how you would feel if you were doing something God told you to, and someone else said you were being openly disobedient and rebellious? Truly heartbreaking.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6314e00979f8094598b9dbab/t/64e465ab45ec2453882f910e/1733441855266/Defining+a+Biblical+Position+on+Women+and+Eldership+-+Written+Statement.pdf
The book “What Paul Really Said About Women: An Apostle’s Liberating Views on Equality in Marriage, Leadership and Love” written by Dr. John Temple Bristow dives deep into the culture at the time, the language and why scripture was translated the way it was. It is very educational. Not based on feelings.
A lack of acceptance of truth usually does result in causing people to respond in sadness or anger or offense. Nothing new. Human reaction doesn’t sway my beliefs. I’m concerned with understanding and standing up for truth. The truth isn’t hidden, it’s clearly defined in scripture, but it’s hated, rejected, twisted, manipulated by cunning deceivers. Sound doctrine is not endured. People prefer what their itching ears want to hear. What’s perceived as my harsh words are merely descriptive of those who attempt to distort the clear meaning of what the Apostle Paul meant concerning the role of women as opposed to that of men within the church. People rejecting truth invent ways to teach what aligns with human reasoning that’s acceptable to the crowd. A lie is still a lie even if everyone believes it and the truth is still the truth even if no one believes it. The Holy Spirit of truth does not lead any true believer into disobedience to scripture. May it please the Lord to lead you out of deception.
Having worked for a church a large SBC church for ten years, I can tell you FIRST HAND that the SBC does not value women.
We had two positions in the church for young people known as Youth Associates, assistants to the Youth Pastor. We always had a male youth associate, but the female version of the position was vacant for years. Why? Because the qualifications were the same (A college degree, a seminary degree or currently in seminary, and ministry experience) except the male position was FULL TIME and the female position was PART TIME. Same job. Same work-load (which would have been 60+ hours a week in the world of ministry),less than half the pay, which is not enough to live on.
We had a children’s pastor leave quickly. This left no leadership for the kid’s ministry. A long-time female congregant stepped in and worked alongside the female administrative assistant and ran the ministry without a hitch for years. Then the church hired a new Children’s Pastor, a man, to take it from her. He floundered and, at one point, lit the church on fire during an ill-advised stunt in which he tried to swallow a flame in front of the kids.
In many churches, the female staff members ALREADY run the church. They just aren’t given the recognition or the pay, and at many places, are subject to unfair treatment (such as being taken advantage of and highly overworked) due to not having the recognition or the status.
I’ve seen MANY women be SEVERELY hurt by the church due to the way the SBC treats women. And I’m not even talking about the mug shots we see on this site.
Are women not human? Are they not created as fully in the image of God as men?
Personally, I am very tired of people saying “Biblically, men and women have different roles,” when that concept cannot be found Scripture.
Also, when they say “men and women have different roles” they mean that man’s role is to lead and woman’s role is to follow and support. I think the folks who truly and wholeheartedly believe this should be consistent and also not let women vote, become doctors, attorneys, politicians, CEOs, managers or children’s ministry directors. Or any kind of “director.” Because that would require women leading and directing males. If men and women were truly created DIFFERENTLY, in their being and essence, men to lead and women to follow, from creation, why limit women from simply being pastors or elders? They shouldn’t even be considered suited to direct or lead at all, anywhere, or at any time, or in any sphere. Let’s be consistent, please.
Indeed, the inconsistency speaks volumes. If these leaders truly believed this biblically mandated, fundamental difference between men and women existed and wanted to apply it faithfully, they would apply it consistently. Since they refuse to be consistent–they want women to direct males in children’s ministry and in organizing potlucks and sunday school, to govern men outside the home and church if it means money for the family, and they tell women they can and must manage their children and households, even those with young males in them–I conclude these beliefs are selective.
Men like Doug Wilson are much more consistent. They truly don’t value or honor women’s full imaging-bearing humanity, only their bodies and their labor and their compliance.
I agree, Alyssa. And the thing I can never wrap my head around is… why not let them try? If we consistently saw female leadership resulting in blunders and failure, then I think we could all see why women shouldn’t lead. But I feel like we see quite the opposite. In my first hand experience working in SBC ministry for many years, the most efficient and productive ministries I have seen have been run by women. And when a mess is made, and someone has to fill in and run the ministry because there is no one else, it’s almost ALWAYS a woman.
Why are women good enough to use to get out of a jam, but not good enough to retain the position when ANY man happens to come along?
If God is blessing a ministry with a woman leading it… why change course? And if you change course and it leads to clear failure, why not admit “we made a mistake.”
Even aside from the debate over women in leadership, the SBC does not have a history that leans, on balance, toward respecting women. Did it value black women when the denomination was founded in favor of slavery? Did it value women when years of sexual abuse in its ranks were covered up? Did it value women when those things became public and the convention seemed to stonewall any kind of real action, or follow up on the actions that were taken? Did it value women when its statements of belief listed prn and homosxlity as sins, but not rp, sa, or abuse of power? I’ve known wonderful Southern Baptist women, but it seems to me that on balance, the denomination has not and does not value women – making it hard to believe that their stances in women now are taken with “respect towards women”.
The SBC appears to be rearranging the furniture when the house is on fire. Their focus should be on how to keep women from being sexually abused by male Pastors and youth leaders. 90-95% of all sex offenders are male. Next,instead of minimizing the role of women in ministry SBC needs to develop policies that forbid the coverup of sexual abuse of children and adults by the clergy and forbid NDA’s that do the same. I don’t have space or time to show how important the ministries of women are in both the Old and New Testaments but you’ll be shocked if you ask AI to develop a theology of women in leadership in both. As a young man,saved when two women evangelists visited my mother’s church ,I find this attack on women in ministry despicable! I encourage the theologians in SBC to take a second look at Scripture and open their biased eyes to see Biblical reality. Fortunately,SBC male dominance can’t stop what the Holy Spirit is doing today as God anoints more women in ministry! Focus on the fire,not rearranging the furniture. Its called repentance!
Jennifer Kent:
Your words: “I just want a church where I can serve how I’m led.”
Do you feel Jesus is calling you to be a pastor?
As one moves towards a fundamentalist approach to the bible, the more issues like this become “essential.” The more “essential issues” there are, the more reasons the church has to divide. I believe we’re at around 40,000 denominations now, which is more than the number of verses in the bible. That’s pretty wild.
A female pastor of a small home church visited a prison and after preaching had all the prisoners and the prison guards flat on their faces worshipping and giving their lives to Christ. Tell me SBC, what punishment will our God bestow on this female pastor for miraculously bringing men to Christ?
So they are furious because the SBC is more interested in standing on Biblical truth than following the crowd saying women can hold the office of Pastor. I don’t even like the SBC but they are doing the right thing here. I’m a woman. I wish I was egalitarian but Scripture is clear.
Please note an inaccuracy in the article. There were no “changed views” in the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. The SBC has viewed the office of pastor/elder as limited to men since its founding in 1845. The historical record is absolutely clear on this. New additions to the statement of faith on this issue came simply as a clarification of an issue that was not previously debated or controversial convention wide. With over 40,000 churches in 2000, there would be a very minute group who would question this, but to the best of my recollection, there were less than 20 ordained women pastors in the SBC when the BFM 2000 was passed – out of over 40,000 churches and upwards of 14 million total members. Certainly there were more than 20 people and their supporters who advocated for women pastors in the rank and file, but the numbers were still miniscule in comparison the size of the convention. My point is simply this, the article implies (purposely or not can’t be known) that the Southern Baptist Convention once endorsed women pastors and then did not – absolutely inaccurate, and I would challenge any contrary view to show the evidence historically.