NEW ORLEANS (BP)—The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee approved a recommendation to place a motion before messengers to the annual meeting concerning whether churches that have female pastors should be considered outside the bounds of cooperation with the SBC.
The motion, introduced to messengers at last year’s SBC annual meeting by Virginia pastor Mike Law, calls for an amendment to the SBC Constitution whereby a sixth identifier would be placed to Article III, paragraph 1. Churches “in friendly cooperation” with the SBC, it stated, would “not affirm, appoint, or employ a woman as a pastor of any kind.”
While the recommendation is for messengers to decide the fate of the motion, the Executive Committee also expressed its “opposition to the suggested amendment.”
The Executive Committee “strongly affirms” Article VI of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 that limits the office of pastor to men “as qualified by Scripture,” the recommendation stated.
 “However, the Executive Committee deems that our beliefs are most appropriately stated in our adopted statement of faith rather than in our constitution and therefore opposes a suggested amendment to SBC Constitution, Article III, which would unnecessarily restate the Baptist Faith & Message 2000, Article VI.”
Trustee Josh Hetzler proposed an amendment to the recommendation striking language in order to make it “more neutral.”
Hetzler’s amendment had been voted down in committee, missions and ministry committee chair Richard Spring explained, adding that it came down to a matter of “governance and procedure.”
Reiterating the recommendation was going to the messengers, Spring questioned the wisdom of “putting our statement of faith in our constitutional documents.”
“Have we taken the time to analyze all the ramifications of moving in this direction as a denomination and convention?” he asked.
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“The Executive Committee has historically not spoken to theology issues. We let the messengers make those determinations.”
The vote will go before messengers during the Executive Committee report on Wednesday morning, June 14.
In other business, the committee elected Philip Robertson, pastor of Philadelphia Baptist Church in Pineville, La., as chair.
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