Southern Baptists took a clear step toward tightening their rules on women in the pulpit on Wednesday, with messengers at the denomination’s annual meeting in Orlando voting by a wide margin to advance a proposed constitutional amendment targeting churches that employ women pastors.
Out of roughly 8,054 ballots counted, nearly three-quarters backed the measure, which would say that churches with women serving in pastoral roles are not in “friendly cooperation” with the Southern Baptist Convention. The vote, held Wednesday morning at the Orange County Convention Center, is just the first round in a two-year process, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The initial tally showed nearly 75 percent support among counted ballots, and the motion is now set to come back before messengers at next year’s SBC meeting in Indianapolis. There, it will need a two-thirds majority to formally amend the denomination’s constitution, the Houston Chronicle reports…