From female pastors to sexual abuse to Trump, Southern Baptists have a busy few days ahead

Thousands will gather in Indianapolis on June 11 and 12 for the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting.

The meeting comes at a tense time for the country’s largest Protestant denomination. The Messengers – as the voting delegates are called – will vote on whether to introduce a constitutional ban on churches with PastorsThey will submit a report on their handling of sexual abuse among their clergy.

With membership numbers steadily declining, they will hear an account of how a previous attempt to reverse the trend failed. And they will elect a new president from among six candidates.

Speaking of presidential candidates: An external group invites participants to a virtual speech by the former President Donald Trumpthe likely Republican nominee, at an outside event. The proposed resolutions cover issues ranging from Gaza to abortion and in vitro fertilization.

Here are some of the problems facing the SBC:

What’s new on the sexual abuse crisis?

The convention has struggled to respond to sexual abuse in its churches since a 2019 report by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News said about 380 Southern Baptist Church leaders and volunteers had faced allegations of sexual misconduct over the past two decades. A subsequent consultant report said former leaders of the convention’s executive committee intimidated and mistreated Survivors seeking help.

But survivors and activists say the religious community’s actions do not match its promises of reform.

A working group on the implementation of abuse reform recently completed its work. While it has produced a curriculum for training churches in the prevention and response to abuse, it has not mandate of previous annual meetings to build a database of offenders that could help churches avoid hiring such offenders.

In a recent YouTube interview with a fellow pastor, SBC Executive Committee Chairman Philip Robertson attempted to downplay reports that there is a “systemic problem” of abuse in the denomination, which he said are “not true.” This has been a talking point for some outside critics of the SBC’s efforts to respond to the crisis, and has now been echoed by at least one person in SBC leadership. Robertson also said that insurers have warned that they would not insure the denomination if it had the database due to liability risks.

In response, the reform task force proposed transferring the list to a separate nonprofit organization, but that proposal has so far come to nothing.

“Robertson’s comments provide insight into what has always been true,” Christa Brown, a longtime advocate for abuse victims in Southern Baptist churches, said in an email. “SBC officials’ opposition to a database has always been an attempt to minimize liability risks for the institution. … And SBC officials are trying to run this multibillion-dollar organization without accepting the responsibility that comes with it.”

In May, federal prosecutors charged Matt Queen, a former professor and administrator at an SBC-affiliated seminary in Texas, with submitting a forged document to federal investigators. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York alleged that the document, which concerned an alleged case of sexual abuse by a seminary student, was submitted with the intent to obstruct their investigation into sexual abuse within the congregation.

The Executive Committee was informed that the federal investigation into its own actions had been completed.

WHY SHOULD THE SBC BAN CHURCHES WITH FEMALE PASTORS?

In 2000, Southern Baptists amended their Baptist Faith and Message to restrict the office of pastor to men, citing Bible verses such as one that “forbids a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man.” This was part of a larger Southern Baptist right-wing movement in the late 20th century.

The statement of faith is not binding, and the denomination cannot dictate to its independent churches whom to appoint as pastors. Some churches with female pastors left, while others stayed but kept a low profile. Still others later appointed female pastors or allowed women to serve under male leaders in associate pastor roles, citing biblical examples of women in ministry.

At this year’s meeting, messengers will vote on whether to give final approval to amending their constitution to ban churches – by deeming them not “cooperative in friendly terms” – with female pastors in senior or associate roles. The denomination provisionally approved the change last year. At that time, it also began excluding congregations with female pastors, such as Saddleback Church, a megachurch in California, on the grounds that they do not closely identify with the Baptist faith and message. The change would codify an explicit ban on such churches, putting them in the same category as churches that “condone homosexual behavior,” discriminate on the basis of race or do not address sexual abuse.

WHY MIGHT THIS IMPACT NON-WHITE CHURCHES MORE?

The National African American Fellowship, a group of predominantly black congregations within the SBC, says a change in law banning churches with female pastors could disproportionately affect their members because many of them serve as assistant pastors. Chinese and Hispanic Baptist leaders also say their churches could be affected because of language differences in describing pastors.

WHO ARE THE SOUTHERN BAPTISTS, ANYWAY?

The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the country. Its members are predominantly evangelical and conservative in both religious and political terms, representing the continuation of a rightward shift that began in the 1980s. The denomination was founded in 1845 in defense of slavery in a schism with the Baptists in the North. In 1995, the predominantly white denomination officially repented of its support of slavery and other forms of racism and took some steps toward ethnic diversification. It has lost some black churches and pastors in recent years because alleged racist insensitivity within its predominantly white leadership.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Southern Baptist membership has been steadily declining since 2006 and is currently below 13 million, the lowest level since 1976. Baptisms, the most important measure of spiritual vitality, have also shown a long-term decline.

Alarmed by such trends, Southern Baptists adopted a seven-point plan in 2010 to revive their missionary efforts. A task force evaluating the plan’s success reported this year that only two of the goals were met, and some were quickly forgotten.

The task force reported: “To the simple question of whether implementation (of the 2010 plan) has reversed the decline in baptisms in the SBC, the answer is a clear and emphatic no.”

The report found that there was “a clear loss of trust, transparency and truth” within our Convention, which had severely affected our cooperation.

WHO WANTS TO LEAD THE DEFESSION?

Six men are nominated to succeed Bart Barber, a popular cattle rancher and pastor of a small church, as president.

The candidates include five pastors and a seminary dean. As in previous years, the competition will be between candidates with varying degrees of conservatism.

WILL THERE BE POLITICS?

Trump will speak virtually at a nearby event on Monday, the day before the annual meeting. The program will include some Southern Baptist leaders. The program is sponsored by an independent group but is on the SBC’s calendar of events.

Former Vice President Mike Pence will speak at a luncheon hosted by the Commission on Ethics and Religious Liberty on Tuesday, but not in the main hall as he did in 2018.

MEPs are expected to vote on resolutions supporting Israel and blaming Hamas for the Gaza war; reaffirming the commitment to abolishing abortion; and urging parents diagnosed with infertility to carefully consider ethical options.

___

The Associated Press’s coverage of religion receives support from the Cooperation with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.