NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Leaders at the Southern Baptist Convention this week in Indianapolis could be voting on removing women from leadership roles in the church. This change could affect thousands of churches across the country.
Tennessee is one of the top five states with the highest number of Southern Baptists in the country, with more than 849,306 members according to Lifeway Research. There are nearly 13 million Southern Baptists members total across the United States. Southern Baptist is the nation's largest Protestant denomination.
Those numbers could potentially see a dip, however, if women are forbidden to be pastors or have other leadership roles in the church.
Last year the Church held a preliminary vote on the measure and it received overwhelming approval. If the vote goes through, smaller churches would feel the blow because there will be even fewer people to fill roles and accept lower pay. Black churches will also be greatly impacted because they tend to have the greatest number of women in pastor or high leadership roles.
Beth Allison Barr, a professor at Baylor University, said the Southern Baptist organization is moving toward a conservative resurgence.
"What they are arguing is there is something about women that makes them unable to lead in the same ways as men," said Barr. "This is an ontological issue, this is fundamentally about if women are recognized as fully equal, as fully in the image of God as men are."
This decision comes at a time when Lifeway Resarch reports the number of churches affiliated with the organization has decreased by nearly 300 in 2023.
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