The Southern Baptist Convention’s credentials committee had a problem.
It had been asked to determine whether or not to expel one of the denomination’s largest churches for violating the SBC’s ban on women serving as pastors. But the committee could not agree on what the word “pastor” meant in a rule that said only man can be pastors. Did it refer to the church’s senior pastor? Or did it mean any role with the title of pastor — such as a music pastor, youth pastor or children’s pastor?
The committee asked the messengers, or local delegates, at the denomination’s 2022 annual meeting for help. What the committee got was an earful instead.
“If we eventually have to form a study committee over every word in our confession of faith, then we’re doomed, and we’re no longer a confessional people,” Albert “Al” Mohler, president of the SBC’s largest seminary, told the meeting, adding that Southern Baptists know exactly what a pastor is.
Nearly three years — and a failed constitutional amendment — later, confusion remains about how the ban on women pastors should be applied. In mid-February, the SBC’s Executive Committee voted to expel a church in Alaska after its pastor signed a letter saying Jesus did not put limits on the roles women could play in ministry. But the credentials committee, which makes recommendations to the Executive Committee on such issues, deemed that a South Carolina megachurch, which has a woman teaching pastor who preaches regularly, remained in “friendly cooperation” with the SBC.
That did not please Clint Pressley, the SBC’s current president.
“My understanding is that our credentials committee deemed a church in friendly cooperation that has a female teaching pastor,” Pressley, a North Carolina pastor, wrote on X. “The committee needs to take another look at this one. Our statement of faith is clear about qualifications for a pastor.”
Mark Goodman, pastor of Rabbit Creek Church in Anchorage, Alaska, said he was saddened to no longer be part of the SBC, after spending his whole life in the denomination.
“I jokingly say I’ve been a Baptist longer than I’ve been a Christian, because my parents took me to a Baptist church while I was still in the womb,” Goodman said in a recent interview.
Goodman said the church had first heard from the credentials committee last year, after someone complained about Lori Pepiton, the congregation’s longtime children and families pastor. After exchanging emails, the committee closed its inquiry, having found no conflicts with the SBC’s beliefs.
“Again, thank you for your cooperation and for the information you provided,” the committee wrote in an email dated Oct. 24. “We value the partnership of Rabbit Creek Church with the Southern Baptist Convention and pray for your continued ministry.”
Things changed when Goodman and other leaders at the church signed a letter in March which argued for no limits on the roles women can hold. Signing that letter went too far, the credentials committee decided, as it gave public support to beliefs that contradicted SBC teaching.
Goodman said that in signing that letter, he was speaking for himself, not the congregation. Not everyone in the church holds the same beliefs, and the church has not taken an official stand on the issue. The SBC holds what are known as complementarian beliefs — the idea that women and men have different roles to play in marriages and in churches. Churches that allow women pastors are often referred to as egalitarian.
Among the members at Rabbit Creek is Randy Covington, the leader of Alaska Baptist Resource Network, the state convention for SBC churches in Alaska. He told Baptist Press, an official SBC publication, there was no conflict between Rabbit Creek’s beliefs and the SBC.
Rabbit Creek Church in Anchorage, Alaska. (Image courtesy Google Maps)
“They do not have egalitarian views,” Covington said. “Their positive impact on the community of Anchorage cannot be overlooked.”
The Rev. Meredith Stone, executive director of Waco, Texas-based Baptist Women in Ministry, said the removal of Rabbit Creek Church was disappointing. She found it odd that the church was essentially being punished because its pastor signed a letter.
“It feels like kind of a witch hunt,” she said.
