Southern Baptist Convention Debates Women Pastors Ban for Fourth Straight Year at Annual Meeting

The Southern Baptist Convention opened its 2026 annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, with a familiar debate at the center: whether to formally amend the denomination's constitution to exclude churches that allow women to serve in pastoral roles.

Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is leading the push for the amendment. His proposal would bar any church that affirms, appoints, or endorses a woman to serve as a pastor, elder, or overseer, including women who preach to the assembled congregation.

The SBC's Baptist Faith and Message already limits the office of pastor to men. But the constitutional amendment would give the denomination formal authority to expel churches that do not comply. In early 2026, the SBC cut ties with two churches specifically because they employed female pastors.

Despite consistent majority support among messengers, the amendment has not reached the two-thirds supermajority required to change the constitution in any of the past four annual meetings. A separate nonbinding resolution with similar language is also on the table, requiring only a simple majority.

Not everyone in the denomination supports the push. Black pastor Dwight McKissic has criticized the focus on gender theology, arguing the SBC leadership has a history of error on moral issues. Bible teacher Beth Moore has challenged the theological basis for excluding women from roles such as discussing sermons on podcasts.

The debate comes as SBC membership has fallen to 12.3 million, the lowest level since 1973, though the denomination reported a recent uptick in baptisms. The outgoing SBC president and candidates for his succession have expressed support for the amendment.