THE leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention disfellowshipped Saddleback Church from the convention on Feb 21, because of its decision to ordain women to the title of pastor, most notable among them Stacie Wood, the wife of the church’s new lead pastor, Andy Wood.
The California megachurch’s stance on Stacie Wood serving as head co-pastor led the SBC Executive Committee to consider a recommendation for the SBC to break with Saddleback.
Saddleback was among five churches with female pastors who were deemed “no longer in friendly cooperation” with the denomination at a meeting of the SBC Executive Committee in Nashville on Tuesday. However, one of the five churches was kicked out over a sex abuse related issue.
The disfellowshipped churches can appeal against the decision if they wished so.
The SBC Executive Committee is comprised of about 30 staff and an 86-member board of elected representatives and manages denomination business outside the Nashville-based SBC’s annual meeting.
Southern Baptists believe the role of pastor is reserved for men. Last year, Saddleback selected Andy Wood as Rick Warren’s successor and the church’s lead pastor, and his wife Stacie Wood came on as a teaching pastor.
The convention’s statement said the church (referring to Saddleback) “has a faith and practice that does not closely identify with the Convention’s adopted statement of faith, as demonstrated by the church having a female teaching pastor functioning in the office of pastor.
“As stated in the Baptist Faith and Message Article VI, the SBC holds to the belief that the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.
“These churches have been valued, cooperating churches for many years, and this decision was not made lightly. However, we remain committed to upholding the theological convictions of the SBC and maintaining unity among its cooperating churches,” Jared Wellman, the executive committee chairman said in the statement.
Stacie Wood has preached in Sunday services three times since her husband was commissioned in September 2022, the church website said.
The convention also cut ties with two churches that have female senior pastors (New Faith Mission Ministry in Griffin, Georgia, and St. Timothy’s Christian Baptist in Baltimore, Maryland) and two churches that have female lead pastors (Calvary Baptist in Jackson, Mississippi, and Fern Creek Baptist in Louisville, Kentucky).
The committee also recommended a single church—Freedom Church in Vero Beach, Florida—be disfellowshipped for issues related to its response to sexual abuse.
However, Christianity Today suggested the convention has acted selectively whenever a sex abuse issue was brought to its notice. “The SBC has only acted to remove a handful of congregations since 2020, the majority of whom knowingly employed a registered sex offender as pastor. Others have been disfellowshiped for their stances on LGBT and racial issues,” CT said on its website.
