During the afternoon session of the SBC 2023 annual meeting, the messengers affirmed the first change to our statement of faith in 23 years. It should come as no surprise that this change is related to Article VI on the church because this is the section of our confession that speaks to the offices of pastor and deacon.

Article VI of the BF&M before it was amended:

“A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation, each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ, which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.”

The section in bold is the portion that has been amended.

Article VI of the Baptist Faith & Message now reads:

“A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation, each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ, which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.”

Again, the section in bold is the portion that has changed, and the change reflects that the NT uses three different terms interchangeably for the same scriptural office. The terms are pastor, elder, & overseer.

The amendment is not a new direction; it is the same language used in the 1925 Baptist Faith & Message for the scriptural leadership offices. However, this change does happen at a time the SBC is discussing who can and cannot be a pastor according to Scripture. There could be implications moving forward for churches that use the term elder or overseer separately from the title pastor.

For instance, a church might have male elders, but that church may also have a woman serving as a children’s pastor. In this situation, the church might be considered “no longer in friendly cooperation” with the SBC.

When this amendment is combined with the proposed constitutional amendment addressing the same issue, you could assume that regardless of structure, churches with women serving in any position with the title of pastor would be out of friendly cooperation.

For info on the law amendment click here

I am grateful for the care and precision being shown with following the Word. And, I hope that we will be as quick and zealous to make