Southern Baptists Reject Saddleback Church’s Appeal Over Ouster Due to Women Pastors

Congregants arrive at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., on, Oct. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Allison Dinner)

The Southern Baptist Convention—a Protestant Christian denomination with over 47,000 churches nationwide—rejected Saddleback Church’s appeal this week to remain a part of it after the Orange County megachurch in Lake Forest, California, was ousted for having women in pastoral leadership roles.

In February, the convention’s leaders voted to revoke Saddleback’s membership “on the basis that the church 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.”

In recent years, the church has appointed four women pastors—including Stacie Wood, wife of Pastor Andie Wood, who replaced Saddleback’s founding Pastor Rick Warren last summer.

Stacie Wood and her husband, Andy Wood, stand for a portrait at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., on Oct. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Allison Dinner)

Warren, who retired but is still an active member in the church, appealed the convention’s decision during its June 13 annual meeting in New Orleans, asking members to “agree to disagree” when it came to women in leadership roles.

“What we share in common is a mutual commitment to the infallibility of God’s word and the great commission of Jesus Christ,” Warren said during the meeting. “No one is asking any Southern Baptist church to change their theology. I’m not asking you to agree with my church, I’m asking you to act like a Southern Baptist, who have historically agreed to disagree on dozens of doctrines.”

However, after Warren’s appeal, 88 percent of the meeting’s attendees voted to oust the church, according to a press release from the convention.

In a press conference after the vote, Southern Baptist Convention President Bart Barber said women have “broad participation” in member churches, just not in certain positions.

“It’s just that when we read the Scriptures, we come to the conclusion that the office of pastor, which also means elder or overseer, that office is limited to men,” Barber said.

In a statement previously emailed to The Epoch Times, Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee Chairman Jared Wellman said that the convention’s guidelines state that “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 guidelines further cite 1 Timothy 2:12, in which the Apostle Paul states, “I do not allow a woman to teach or to have authority over a man.”

Additionally, the convention voted on June 14 to pass an amendment to its constitution further clarifying its stance on female pastors, according to a press release from the convention.

The amendment would add that churches affirm, appoint, or employ “only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture.”

In addition to Saddleback Church, the convention also voted to remove a Baptist church in Kentucky for appointing female pastors. It also voted to remove another in Florida, which allegedly failed to investigate sexual assault claims.

In a video posted to YouTube on June 14, Warren said Saddleback will continue to be members of the California Southern Baptist Convention and of the Orange County Southern Baptist Association.

Pastor Rick Warren delivers his final sermon as Saddleback Church’s senior pastor on Aug. 28, 2022. (Screenshot via Saddleback Church)

He also said there are about 2,000 churches nationwide that are a part of the convention that have women in leadership positions.

“There’s far more [churches with women pastors] that are just being quiet about it ... This is going to be an inquisition now, and it’s probably going to go on for 10 years ... They can’t just pick out Saddleback. They have to pick out a couple thousand now.”