Saddleback Church, others set to appeal ouster from Southern Baptist Convention

Saddleback Church plans to appeal its ouster from the Southern Baptist Convention following a decision by denomination leaders to disfellowship the church for having a woman in a senior pastor role.

The decision by the California megachurch is expected amid a larger debate over the role of women in church leadership in the Nashville-based SBC. An SBC oversight group, called the credentials committee, announced Tuesday which churches plan to appeal recent decisions to disfellowship the churches at the SBC annual meeting next month in New Orleans.

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“SBC bylaws plainly outline the process for churches determined to be not in cooperation with the Convention to appeal their cases before messengers cast their votes,” said SBC Executive Committee chairman David Sons in a statement Tuesday.

“Since this is the first time in SBC history for this particular item of business to come before the Convention, it’s important for everyone coming to New Orleans to be prepared and informed about the process,” Sons added.

In addition to Saddleback, Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky plans to appeal a decision to disfellowship the church for having a female pastor. Fern Creek’s pastor, Linda Barnes Popham, has expressed her intention to appeal since the SBC Executive Committee disfellowshipped her church in February.

The SBC Executive Committee, comprised of an elected board of 86 members and about 30 staff, manages denomination business outside the two-day SBC annual meeting. At executive committee meetings in September and February, the executive committee approved recommendations by the credentials committee to disfellowship eight total churches.

Of the eight total churches, five were disfellowshipped for having women in lead or senior pastor roles. It was the latest development in the ongoing debate over women pastors in the SBC.

There’s also a pastor-led campaign for a constitutional amendment that would codify the SBC’s doctrinal statement to prohibit women pastors and make the prohibition a condition for affiliation with the SBC at the national level. A debate about the constitutional amendment is expected to arise at this year’s annual meeting.

The likely debates at the annual meeting over the constitutional amendments and appeals to the ouster of churches have the potential to transform the status of churches with women pastors in the SBC.

The SBC doctrinal statement, called the Baptist Faith & Message 2000, says the office of pastor is limited to men. Southern Baptists hold to a complementarian view, which believes men and women hold different roles.

However, the way Southern Baptists enforce the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 is more complicated at both the national level and at the state and regional levels.

The debate over women pastors intensified starting in 2021 after Saddleback, the California megachurch founded by Rick Warren, ordained three women pastors. Since then, Warren retired from Saddleback and Andy and Stacie Wood took over as co-pastors to lead the church. Even then, Stacie Woods’ role as pastor has been under the purview of male leadership at Saddleback.

Then, on May 8, Saddleback announced a woman would take over as campus pastor of Lake Forest location.

Other churches disfellowshipped: Southern Baptist Convention disfellowships Saddleback Church over role of women as pastors

A third church, Freedom Church in Vero Beach, Florida will also appeal a decision to disfellowship the church for exhibiting "a lack of intent to cooperate in resolving concerns regarding a sexual abuse allegation.”

The churches will have the opportunity to appeal their ouster during the “miscellaneous business” section of the SBC annual meeting agenda, according to the credentials committee statement Tuesday.

During an appeal at the annual meeting, a representative of the church will have an opportunity to speak before the thousands of voting delegates, called messengers, and then a member of the credentials committee or executive committee will speak. Then, the messengers will vote on whether to uphold the decision to disfellowship the churches.

Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at ladams@tennessean.com or on Twitter @liamsadams.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Saddleback Church, others set to appeal ouster from SBC