INDIANAPOLIS — One of the largest yearly gatherings of evangelical Christians globally is often filled with drama over internal policies and external attitudes about pressing political issues.
Welcome to the Southern Baptist Convention's annual two-day meeting, which officially gets underway Tuesday.
Delegates who participate in the Nashville-based denomination’s legislative summit, who are known as messengers, are expected on Tuesday to take up a contentious resolution opposing in vitro fertilization, or IVF, elect a new president, and consider reports on abuse reform and cooperation. The latter item touches on a key theme of this year’s convention due to conflict surrounding a proposed measure to enshrine a ban on women pastors.
Catch up with Monday's SBC news:SBC live updates: Seminary leader condemns Trump verdict, voices opposition to IVF
The constitutional ban on women pastors — commonly called the “Law Amendment” after its original submitter, Virginia pastor Mike Law — may come up for a vote Tuesday or on Wednesday.
SBC President Bart Barber, a Texas pastor who’s concluding his second and final term as the convention’s highest-elected position, will preside over the business of the annual meeting throughout the next two days. Many important legislative sessions are scheduled for tight windows, requiring brief yet passionate speeches for and against certain legislative proposals.
Follow along for live updates.
SBC President Bart Barber emphasizes generosity in final address
For his last word of encouragement to Southern Baptists, SBC President Bart Barber admonished the convention to embrace a spirit of generosity.
“If our experience of the local church is growing the right kind of heart in our chest, it’s going to be second nature for us to do the right thing here,” Barber, a Texas pastor, said in his address to the convention early into its annual meeting. “Your church and my church would be healthier when we can get the people to see their mission as building people up and growing people.”
Division within the SBC has harmed the denomination’s reputation before the secular world, Barber said. “People we push out the door and shut it behind them will no longer be influenced by us at all.”
Barber concludes his second and final term as the denomination’s highest-ranking elected official at the end of the Indianapolis gathering, the business of which he presides over.
Originally elected at the 2022 SBC annual meeting, Barber has earned the fondness of many Southern Baptists for his folksy charm and his stature as a pastor of a small church. In the past couple years, Barber has led the convention during a time of deep conflict and confusion over abuse reform and the debate over the status of women pastors.
Barber was featured in a "60 Minutes" segment and was the first SBC president to attend the largest gathering of Christian Native Americans following the convention’s adoption of a resolution on the history of federal Indian boarding schools.
Barber spoke to the more than 10,600 registered messengers and nearly 3,000 registered guests about the convention’s health and longevity.
“We can face all these challenges together if our churches are healthy,” Barber said. “Take the baton. You, the Southern Baptist Convention keeps on going.”
Barber’s message sought to combat a broader narrative of “the great dechurching” and anxiety over declining church membership. He also emphasized the importance of cooperation, a major theme of this year’s annual meeting due to the Law Amendment. Barber appointed the 20-member SBC Cooperation Group, which studied the denomination’s standards for affiliating with churches and is scheduled to present a report later Tuesday.
Six candidates are vying to be the next SBC president, the election for which is scheduled on Tuesday evening. At least one runoff is all but guaranteed.
Barber profile:Bart Barber defied the Conservative Resurgence. How it is now shaping his SBC leadership.
Solidarity for women in ministry ahead of vote on constitution
If the Southern Baptist Convention enshrines a ban on women pastors, it will be one many Southern Baptists will celebrate. But on Monday night, it was a source of mournfulness during a virtual prayer vigil.
“There’s a lot to grieve, there’s a lot to be angry about,” speaker Jule Tai said in opening the vigil. “It’s a call to protest and it’s a call to demonstration.”
Organized by Baptist Women in Ministry, a nonprofit with partners across various Baptist denominations, the event aimed to acknowledge the current strife in the SBC and past division. Baptist Women in Ministry staff are also planning a demonstration outside the Indianapolis Convention Center as an act of solidarity with Southern Baptist women in ministry.
Related:How the Southern Baptist Convention turned 180 degrees on women in leadership in six years
The present battle in the SBC over women pastors echoes a conflict in the 1980s, which is depicted in a new documentary produced by Baptist Women in Ministry called “Midwives of a Movement.” Some of the women featured in the documentary, which released publicly on Monday, attended the vigil.
“We swallowed our grief when we were told we weren’t ready to lead,” said Angie Hong, co-founder of Kinship Commons, a liturgy company that helped organize the worship for the prayer vigil. “We swallowed our grief when we were told we were too emotional, we were too angry, we were too provocative, we were too much.”
“These untruths and these lies have hurt us,” Hong said. “These lies have wounded us, made us question ourselves and worse, made us question the God who created us in God’s image.”
In the past couple years, the SBC has disfellowshipped six churches in which women serve as pastors. A couple of those churches — such as Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville and Immanuel Baptist Church in Paducah, Kentucky — long cooperated with the SBC and held to beliefs that aligned with most Southern Baptists' conservative ideals.
Another church might be facing a similar battle this week. First Baptist Church of Alexandria announced it will be the target of an ouster attempt from the floor of the SBC annual meeting because the church employs a woman pastor for children and women.
Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at ladams@tennessean.com or on social media @liamsadams.
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