Editorial: After SBC’s first vote on amendment, now what?

The question I hear most frequently in the days following a significant convention governance or relationship vote is some variation of, “What’s going to happen?”

Or: “What does this mean for …?”

Or: “Now what?”

My crystal ball is as reliable as anyone else’s, which is to say, not very. I can make some predictions, and I do. I can also point to what has happened in the past and to what is happening now.

Here, I will focus on what is happening now. At the end, I will offer one “should.”

What just happened

A quick recap to explain why I’m being asked what’s going to happen next: Messengers to the 2026 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting voted, June 10, in favor of a motion made by Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler to amend the SBC Constitution to add a sixth enumerated qualifier for a church to be in friendly cooperation with—to be a member of—the SBC.

The sixth qualifier would add that a cooperating Southern Baptist church “does not act to affirm, appoint, or endorse a woman serving in the office or function of a pastor/elder/overseer, specifically preaching to the assembled congregation.”

The motion required a two-thirds majority vote (66 percent) and received 75 percent.

Being a proposed constitutional amendment, it must also receive at least a two-thirds majority vote at the 2027 SBC annual meeting to be adopted, thus amending the SBC Constitution.

Should the amendment pass on second vote, and I predict it will, I’m being asked if the SBC will start going after and “kicking out” churches with women children’s pastors, youth pastors, worship pastors, or churches with women in other pastoral positions.

This is why I wrote what I did last week. An SBC church with women in non-senior pastoral roles can wait to see how the SBC implements the sixth qualifier and then act, or the church can have the conversation with itself now about how God is leading it to affiliate and respond accordingly. Either way, the church will have to deal with its position on women pastors.

For those not sure they still have a home in the SBC, there are new connections.

New connections

A church unsure of its place in the SBC at this point definitely needs to have a congregational discussion about its position on women in ministry. I say “congregational discussion” because I believe in the autonomy of each local church to determine its position, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, on matters of faith and practice.

For Southern Baptist churches with a studied commitment to women in pastoral roles, there are a couple of new connections to consider.

Ascent

Ascent is a relatively new collaborative network of churches, educational institutions, and ministries across North America focused on evangelism and church planting. Launched in March of this year, the conversations that led to the formation of Ascent started in 2016.

Ascent includes Baptists, Global Methodists, Anglicans, Assemblies of God, and churches of other denominations positioned around the center of the theological spectrum. For example, this “collaborative connection,” to use Ascent’s phrase, includes churches that hold to egalitarianism and those that hold to a degree of complementarianism.

The Junia Network, a part of Ascent, offers a year-long cohort to “women leading in the local church, theological education, denominational life, Christian nonprofits, and the marketplace.”

Within Ascent, churches retain congregational autonomy. The Apostles Creed, Nicene Creed, Capetown Commitment, and Ascent Affirmations of Faith are Ascent’s confessional foundation. Participating entities covenant to work together across their differences.

The Baptist Network

The Baptist Network just announced its upcoming September launch. It is distinctly Baptist, focusing particularly on the historic Baptist principle of local church autonomy. In response to women in ministry being a focal issue for the SBC in recent years, founders of The Baptist Network emphasize each local church determines its polity on such matters.

A major impetus for the formation of The Baptist Network is “the increasing fusion of political nationalism and Christian witness.” As politics further divides the church, this network wants to prioritize “the kingdom over political ideology” by being “a Christ-centered, gospel-focused community.”

Social justice is equally important. This new network seeks to encourage and collaborate with those committed to biblical justice with respect to “race, immigration, poverty,” and related issues.

A prediction and a ‘should’

I predict most churches still affiliated with the SBC will remain with the SBC. For them, the SBC may be the right connection. Some churches will not be able to remain with the SBC. They will want and need options like those named above.

Whoever a church affiliates with, the affiliation should be a matter of prayerful and studied conviction for the purpose of pointing people to Jesus.

Here’s the “should:” Every church should know its position on women’s roles in ministry. And that position should be unambiguous and unassumed. The women serving your church deserve that.

Women should not have to wonder or worry about what their church thinks of their leadership in ministry. Nor should they be in any doubt whether their church will support them when opposition comes. And opposition will come. It already has. For some, it has been horrible.

Wherever a church comes down on women in pastoral roles, each Baptist church has autonomy in determining its position. It is not under compulsion to agree with the SBC. It is obligated to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

So, to the question, “Now what?” I say, “Now is a good time to pray and ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance, to study your commitments—biblical, theological, relational—and to do all you can to be faithful to the Lord.”

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher, and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.