Board approves recommendations about women in ministry

The Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board voted in favor of Executive Committee recommendations on women in ministry in Texas. The measure was approved by three-fourths (75 percent) of the board.

Executive Board Chair Bobby Contreras presented three recommendations to the board May 20:

• Texas Baptists host a networking event for women in ministry at Texas Baptists’ annual meeting beginning in 2024 and host regional networking events across Texas, beginning in 2025.
• Executive leadership identify and resource a new or current BGCT staff member to expand, develop and implement mentoring and leadership training opportunities for women in ministry in Texas Baptist churches and institutions.
• Executive leadership resource a BGCT staff member to explore all current opportunities available for women in ministry and leadership in Texas Baptist churches and institutions to catalog resources and provide suggestions on ways to streamline and expand programs without duplicating.

Ward Hayes, BGCT treasurer and chief financial officer, spoke to a question on funding these recommendations. For the remainder of this year, there is room in the budget for the recommendations, and building the 2025 budget currently is in progress, he said.

The plan is to have a current staff person take on this exploratory work, though that person has not yet been pinpointed.

In response to a question about whether cooperative giving resources will be used to act on a matter that is an issue of local church autonomy, Hayes responded, “We don’t believe these recommendations violate local church autonomy at all.”

Cooperative Program dollars will be used in this exploration, he explained, but “it is, we think, in meeting all the needs of our churches as we do this.”

A posture of listening

In response to a motion from last year’s Texas Baptists’ Family Gathering in McAllen, the Executive Board has “taken a posture of listening” over the past several months, hosting listening sessions to help grasp the current experience of women serving in Texas Baptist life, said Katie Frugé, director of the Center for Cultural Engagement and the Christian Life Commission.

With the goal of “capturing with clarity the voice of women in ministry in Texas,” these sessions were led by Frugé, who reported her impressions to the board.

The sessions included BGCT staff women, women serving in BGCT-affiliated institutions, women serving on staff in Texas Baptist churches, and women serving in volunteer positions that strengthen their local church and convention.

The listening sessions found some common themes.

“Every single woman in attendance expressed a desire to be a positive influence that celebrates and uplifts one another,” Frugé said.

Participants shared candidly about weariness in serving in ministry, across areas of service. Many women in ministry in Texas are weary and feel invisible. Serving in ministry can be spiritually, emotionally and physically exhausting, which does create a unique weariness, Frugé said.

“Bearing one another’s burdens is difficult, if we do not see each other’s load,” one participant in a listening session said.

Relational and educational resources needed

The listening sessions showcased a need for relational and educational resources.

“Relationally, we heard a deep desire for mentoring of women in ministry in Texas. There is a yawning gap in the lack of professional mentors for women serving in various ways to build the kingdom of God,” Frugé said.

While some churches offer mentoring, the demand continues to outpace the supply. Women are hungry for biblically grounded and accomplished mentors in their unique professional spheres, she continued.

Session participants expressed a desire to build ministry relationships with other women serving across the Texas Baptist landscape. Frugé suggested expanding network capacity and relationship building is the antidote for some of the weariness participants expressed.

Participants desired networking opportunities, while expressing the difficulties of building such networks given the day-to-day grind of the never-ending daily demands of ministry.

Other fields provide ongoing professional development, but “we need more training and professional development available for women after seminary or college graduation in their field,” Frugé said.

Some educational opportunities for women who are professional ministers exist currently, but it may be necessary to streamline and refocus to make them more accessible to the most people, she continued.

They want to be ‘seen’

“Women we heard from faithfully served their local church and ministry assignment with dignity and integrity. They are often the first to arrive and the last to leave. They volunteer, they do the work, and they have no agenda beyond serving the kingdom of heaven.” Frugé said.

Women emphatically did not want a focused campaign highlighting only women. Instead, they communicated a desire to be seen in the natural and diverse makeup in the fabric of the convention.

Frugé urged continued action on addressing the needs of Texas Baptist women in ministry, “as we work to fulfill our convention constitutional objective—to awaken and stimulate among the churches the greatest possible activity in evangelism, missions, Christian education and benevolent work and enterprises to cultivate a closer cooperation among the churches and promote harmony of feeling and concert of action in advancing all the interests of the Redeemer’s kingdom.”

At the 2023 Family Gathering, Meredith Stone, executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry and messenger from Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, presented a motion: “I move that the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board be instructed to have staff create programs, resources, and initiatives to assist churches in affirming, appointing, and employing women in ministerial and pastoral roles.”

Dustin Slaton, pastor of First Baptist Church in Round Rock, brought an amendment to Stone’s motion: “I move that we request the BGCT Executive Board to resource BGCT staff to continue developing more strategies, resources, and advocacy initiatives to assist churches in affirming, appointing, and employing women in ministerial and leadership roles.

Messengers at the 2023 Family Gathering passed the amended motion.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The vote total in the first paragraph was edited May 24 based on additional information from BGCT CFO Ward Hayes. The 70 percent affirmative vote originally reported included only those who voted via Zoom and not those who registered their votes in person.