The Southern Baptist Convention gathered the week of June 14 in Nashville for its annual gathering amid tensions as to what direction this largest of Protestant denominations will take for the future.
This was the first meeting since 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On the table was the election of a new SBC president, as well as issues of race, gender, sex and theology. The two wings of the denomination are divided as to how to address these questions surrounding race, gender and equality. All this is happening as the SBC, like many other Christian denominations in the United States, faces shrinking membership. The SBC has lost more than two million members since 2006.
The SBC was founded before the Civil War and was originally a defender of slavery. It was not until 1995 that the SBC formally apologized for supporting slavery. Since the year 2000, its black membership has been on the increase, while the denomination has experienced a decline in white members. In the last year, several black pastors have left the denomination, citing racial insensitivity within the mostly white leadership of SBC. Many of the black pastors side with the denomination’s more conservative theological stances but reject the move toward espousing conservative national politics. They also want to see more movement toward championing racial justice.
A hotly contested election for the leadership at the convention pitted Georgia pastor Mike Stone against a pastor from Mobile, Ala. — Ed Litton, who was elected SBC president. Stone is the founder of the Conservative Baptist Network. He has criticized the SBC for becoming too “liberal” and “woke.” He disagreed with the denomination’s 2019 adoption of a nonbinding resolution that accepted critical race theory as a useful tool for understanding systemic racism.
After his narrow victory, Litton promised to facilitate SBC healing, as he helps to “iron out our differences.” He said, “I want to be clear that my goal is to build bridges and not walls.”
Another controversial issue facing the SBC is how the denomination mishandled issues surrounding sexual abuse. Delegates at the SBC meeting voted overwhelmingly to create a task force to oversee an independent investigation. The resolution calls for Litton to appoint the task force, which will head up a review of allegations that the denomination’s Executive Committee mishandled abuse cases, intimidated victims and advocates, and resisted reforms.
Nathan Finn, a Baptist historian who serves as provost of North Greenville University in South Carolina, said, “I think the Southern Baptists have said loud and clear that our leaders are denominational servants, and we intend to hold our denominational servants accountable.”
As to the role of women in the SBC, it seems the denomination is not moving toward ordination or even allowing them to preach from the pulpit. The convention upheld the “Resolution on Ordination and the Role of Women in Ministry” document that states, “Therefore, be it resolved, that we not decide concerns of Christians doctrine and practice by modern cultural, sociological, and ecclesiastical trends or by emotional factors; that we remind ourselves of the dearly bought Baptist principle of the final authority of Scripture in matters of faith and conduct; and that we encourage the service of women in all aspects of church life and work other than pastoral functions and leadership roles entailing ordination.”
Litton is described by many Baptists as a moderate voice. However, he would describe himself as a conservative pastor, as he explained, “I believe in the inerrancy, infallibility and sufficiency of God’s word. I am pro-life, and I believe that marriage is between a man and woman.” He also describes himself as a complementarian, which he explains means he believes that women should not lead churches and should submit to their husbands, as Scripture states.
While the meeting is over and the election complete, the differences in view as to which direction the SBC should take is still simmering and threatens to split the denomination. Stay tuned.
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