The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has upheld the decision to remove Saddleback Church, California, United States, from the denomination for allowing women to serve as teaching pastors in its fold, The Christian Post has reported.
This is just as the founder of Saddleback, Rick Warren, pleaded with the convention for reinstatement of the church.
In February, the SBC cut ties with Saddleback and four other churches in the US for elevating women to the office of pastor.
The other churches dis-fellowshipped are New Faith Mission Ministry, Griffin, Georgia; St. Timothy’s Christian Baptist Church, Baltimore, Maryland; Calvary Baptist Church, Jackson, Mississippi; and Fern Creek Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky.
The SBC Executive Committee upheld a recommendation by its Credential Committee to label the five churches as “not in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention” for allowing women to be pastors.
By a vote of 9,437 (88.46%) to 1,212 (11.36%), the SBC, in its annual meeting held in New Orleans on June 14, upheld the decision to remove Saddleback from the Baptist denomination. Nineteen ballots were voided.
The Committee also upheld the decision to expel Fern Creek Baptist Church by a vote of 9,700 to 806 for having a woman to pastor in its congregation while that of Freedom Church was upheld by a vote of 9,984 to 343 for the sexual misconduct of its lead pastor.
According to the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, though both men and women are called to spread the gospel, only men are allowed to hold the position of a pastor.
Warren, the popular Purpose Driven Life and Purpose Driven Church. has appealed to the SBC to reconsider the expulsion of Saddleback.
“Why should this one issue cancel out fellowship?
“We should remove churches for all kinds of sexual sins, racial sin, financial sin, leadership sin, sins that harm the testimony of our convention. But the 1,129 churches with women on pastoral staff have not sinned,” he argued.
Warren said Saddleback disagrees with only one word in SBC doctrine – “men.”
He said, “Isn’t that close enough. If doctrinal disagreements between Baptists are considered sin, we all get kicked out. You will never get 100 per cent of Baptists to agree on 100 per cent of every doctrine.”
But in response, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Al Mohler, warned that the position of Saddleback would threaten the unity of the SBC, adding that the issue was not non-essential.
Molhler said, “It’s not just a matter of church polity, it’s not just a matter of hermeneutics, it’s a matter of biblical commitment, a commitment to the Scripture that unequivocally we believe limits the office of pastor to men.
“Here we face the unusual situation in which Dr Warren himself has made repeated statements, and the church has taken repeated actions that make very clear it rejects the confessional understanding of the Southern Baptist Convention on this issue.”
The California-based Saddleback was founded by Warren and his wife, Kay, in 1980. It has an attendance of about 30,000. Warren preached his last sermon last year after 43 years in ministry.
The church ordained its first three female pastors on May 6, 2021. The pastors are Liz Puffer, Cynthia Petty and Katie Edwards.