What’s at Stake as Southern Baptists Move to Bar Women Pastors

The Southern Baptist Convention, a denomination that is often a bellwether for evangelical America, has expelled five churches from the convention this year over their appointment of women as pastors.

The move to enforce a strict ban against women in church leadership comes as some evangelicals fear a liberal drift in their congregations and a departure from Scripture.

On Tuesday, two of those churches, Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., and Saddleback Church in Southern California, appealed their expulsions before thousands of delegates at the annual convention in New Orleans.

At the same time, ultraconservatives were moving to amend the S.B.C. constitution to further restrict the role of women in leadership, by stating that a church could be Southern Baptist only if it “does not affirm, appoint or employ a woman as a pastor of any kind.”

The delegates are expected to hold a vote on Wednesday. Here is a guide to understanding what is at stake.

The S.B.C. is the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, though its numbers have been declining.

With more than 47,000 churches and more than 13 million members, the S.B.C. remains the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. But its membership has been in steep decline in recent years. A 2022 report found membership had dropped by about 3 percent annually over the last three years.

Southern Baptists have historically prioritized allowing individual churches to lead as they like, and the denomination is seen as an association rather than a hierarchical organization compared with other Christian traditions, like Catholicism.

While the denomination as a whole is overwhelmingly white, Black women are heavily represented as pastors among the churches that have female head pastors.

Ultraconservatives have been pushing against what they perceive as a leftward drift.

Much like other parts of society, the denomination has fought internal struggles over gender, sexuality, abuse, politics and race, including criticisms from an energetic right flank that the group is drifting to the left.

In 2021, the S.B.C. expelled Towne View Baptist Church in Kennesaw, Ga., and St. Matthews Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., for church policies deemed accepting of homosexuality, in violation of the denomination’s statement of faith.

Towne View’s conversations about becoming an “affirming” congregation, and its decision to accept two gay couples as members in 2019, cost the church at least 30 percent of its membership, Jim Conrad, the pastor, said in February 2021.

The fight is now over purging churches led by female pastors.

Ultraconservatives are moving to enforce the position that women should not lead churches. Before this year’s convention in New Orleans, more than 2,000 male pastors and professors signed a letter supporting an amendment that would enforce that position.

Most people in the denomination have long believed that the office of head pastor should be reserved for men, based on their reading of the Bible. Those against the expulsions say their church’s interpretation of the Bible had affirmed women’s eligibility to lead.

It is not clear exactly how many women are pastors in the denomination; estimates range from dozens to nearly 2,000 when a range of pastoral positions other than senior pastor are included. The role of minister or pastor can have many meanings in different Christian settings; children’s ministers, for example, are often women even in theologically conservative churches.

The crackdown comes at a moment when the country is broadly re-examining women’s rights, a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. For Southern Baptists, it also comes as victims’ advocates have pressed the denomination to take action after devastating reports of sexual abuse of women and children, and have been met with resistance from some men in the organization.

Saddleback, one of the most prominent evangelical churches, is at the center of the dispute.

In expelling Saddleback Church, the ultraconservatives targeted one of the most prominent evangelical churches in the country. Founded in 1980 by the celebrity pastor Rick Warren, Saddleback grew quickly during the ’80s and ’90s and was known as a “seeker-sensitive” church, attuned to the questions and preferences of those unfamiliar with or wary of traditional church experiences.

Mr. Warren, who wrote one of the best-selling books of all time, “The Purpose Driven Life,” has been actively working to thwart the move to expel Saddleback.

“This is a vote to affirm the God-given freedom of every Baptist to interpret Scripture as a Baptist — by saying no to those who deny that freedom,” Mr. Warren wrote in an open letter addressed “to all Southern Baptists.”

The changes to the constitution would not take effect until next year at the earliest.

The attempt to amend the S.B.C. constitution to unequivocally bar women from top pastoral jobs requires a vote in its favor both at this year’s convention and at next year’s. The delegates are expected to hold the first vote on Wednesday.

In a sign that the move to oust Saddleback and Fern Creek had taken on the contours of a political campaign, convention attendees received voter guides at breakfast on Tuesday morning.

Three other churches that were expelled for having female pastors chose not to appeal. The expelled churches can continue to operate, but they will no longer be able to identify themselves as affiliated with the S.B.C. or participate in its programs.

Ruth Graham and Elizabeth Dias contributed reporting.