Recovery

Objections over ‘pastor’ limitation

Greear backs Black church group’s call for prayer

Nashville, Tenn. | A network of 4,000 Black churches within the Southern Baptist Convention has called for a season of prayer and dialogue after an action by messengers prohibited application of the term “pastor” to women serving in any ministry capacity. Their challenge has received support from former SBC President J.D. Greear.

In a July 3 letter to Southern Baptists and current SBC President Bart Barber, President of the National African American Fellowship (NAAF) Gregory Perkins said that “many of our churches assign the title ‘pastor’ to women who oversee ministries of the church under the authority of a male Senior Pastor, i.e., Children’s Pastor, Worship Pastor, Discipleship Pastor, etc.,”

Use of the term pastor to describe these various shepherding and ministry functions by those churches does not mean they advocate female senior pastors, he explained.

At the SBC Annual Meeting in New Orleans, messengers passed the first of two votes required to amend the SBC Constitution to

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