Messengers to the 2024 Southern Baptist Convention will be voting on a host of things. One of the most significant will be the Law Amendment. Pastor Michael recently wrote an article in The Baptist Review arguing in favor of the Law Amendment. Click here to read his article. 

The Law Amendment aims to codify a complementarian position on the pastorate in the SBC Constitution. This is the Southern Baptist position on the office of Pastor/Elder/Overseer and is made clear in Article VI of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. However, the language is missing in our Constitution. This has allowed churches who differ on this matter to participate in Southern Baptist life which has created significant issues for our churches in recent years. The Law Amendment seeks to address this by updating the language of Article III in the SBC Constitution.

Article III of the SBC Constitution lays out the qualification for who can cooperate with the Southern Baptist Convention. Cooperating churches are able to send messengers to the annual meeting (i.e. have a vote(s) on SBC matters), send missionaries through SBC entitities (NAMB, IMB),contribute to SBC causes through the Cooperative Program, and their members can receive deeply discounted tuition at Southern Baptist seminaries. The Law Amendment would add language to Article III that the pastorate is reserved exclusively for men as stated in 1 Timothy 2:12, 3:1-7.

If the Amendment passes, only churches who affirm that the office of Pastor/Elder/Overseer is reserved for qualified men would be allowed to cooperate with the SBC moving forward.