Southern Baptists are discussing the biblical and historical understandings of the word “pastor” today in ways that have direct implications for future cooperation among their numerous churches. A motion was made in the 2020 annual meeting in Nashville for the Credentials Committee to investigate the apparent ordination of female “pastors” within a cooperating and credentialed SBC church. The committee investigated and brought forth a recommendation to the body of messengers at the 2022 meeting in Anaheim California on June 14th.

To the surprise and dismay of many messengers, the committee concluded that the church was operating according to the spirit of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 because although they had ordained women as “pastors,” the women were not functioning as “elders.” The church in question claimed that they were not disobeying Scripture nor acting in bad faith toward their fellow SBC churches because they interpreted the word “pastor” to refer to a giftedness bestowed by the Holy Spirit on both men and women in the New Testament (Ephesians 4:11), while interpreting the term “elder” to apply to an office only to be filled by men (1Timothy 3:1).

So who are our pastors/shepherds? Are they people in our church who display skills or gifts of shepherding? Is there convincing evidence from Scripture that the “gifts” mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 are Spirit-given skills for people in ministry, or does the evidence support the claim that the gifts are actual people (officers) given to churches for the purpose of ministry.

Rather than reinvent the wheel, we decided to provide a link to an article written in 2019 by Denny Burk that explains how to examine the biblical evidence in this situation. We agree with Burk’s exegetical approach to understanding this issue which also continues the biblically conservative precedent established by Baptists long ago – that elders are qualified men gifted by the Holy Spirit to the local church to shepherd the people of God, and that shepherding is the unique responsibility of elders in the context of the local church.

Can Women Be Pastors But Not Elders?