From its towering white steeple and red-brick facade to its Sunday services filled with rousing gospel hymns and evangelistic sermons, First Baptist Church of Alexandria, Virginia, bears many of the classic hallmarks of a Southern Baptist church.
On a recent Sunday, its pastor for women and children, Kim Eskridge, urged members to invite friends and neighbors to an upcoming vacation Bible school — a perennial Baptist activity — to help “reach families in the community with the gospel.”
But because that pastor is a woman, First Baptist’s days in the Southern Baptist Convention may be numbered.
At the SBC’s annual meeting June 11-12 in Indianapolis, representatives will vote on whether to amend the denomination’s constitution to essentially ban churches with any women pastors — and not just in the top job. That measure received overwhelming approval in a preliminary vote last year.
Fun fact, Southern Baptists are a thing because they split off from the Baptists so they could support slavery.
Funner fact, they won’t let women be lead pastors for men, but they will allow women to be missionaries to other men around the world.
Basically a woman can’t be a pastor to white Christian men, but those other men out there? That’s fine.
Racism is thoroughly baked into their theology and worldview.
As a point of fact some Southern Baptists Churches do allow, and have, Women as Lead Pastors.
Did you forget what the article is about? Those churches are likely getting kicked out.
They may be removed from the Southern Baptist Convention but they will still be a Southern Baptist Church.
Organized religions are weird like this.
I think I read an article about that…