Southern Baptists reject megachurch with women pastors

The Southern Baptist Convention is rejecting an appeal from a California megachurch known as “Saddleback Church,” which was ousted in February due to the fact that it employs women pastors.

During their yearly gathering, representatives of the Southern Baptist church declined a similar request from Fern Creek Baptist, a smaller congregation based in Louisville, Ky., which is led by a female pastor.

The outcomes of the votes were revealed Wednesday, the last day of the convention which features the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, which believes that only qualified men can become pastors.

About 12,000 Southern Baptists packed into the convention hall fell silent when the decision was announced.

SBC President Bart Barber spoke just moments before, encouraging members to show restraint in light of the news.

“I know sometimes there are churches where people wind up in biblical divorce,” Barber said. “But we don’t throw divorce parties at church. And whatever these results are, I’m asking you, behave like Christians.”

Until recently, Saddleback held the second-largest congregation in the SBC and was widely regarded as a success story compared to the membership declines felt elsewhere in the denomination.

Rick Warren, who founded Saddleback Church and wrote the best-selling phenomenon, “The Purpose Driven Life,” filed an unsuccessful appeal after the decision was made.

“Messengers voted for conformity and uniformity rather than unity,” he said at a news conference following the event.

“The only way you will have unity is to love diversity,” Warren added, saying he filed the appeal knowing that he wouldn’t win.

He went on to say that there were some members of the SBC who wished to take the church back to the “1950s when white men ruled supreme and when the woman’s place was in the home.”

With News Wire Services