Can Women Preach? SDAs: “Yes!” SBCs: “No!”

Breaking news in Christendom! On June 10, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) passed an amendment to its constitution. If it passes a second required vote next year, this amendment will add a new standard for SBC churches. To be considered a “cooperating” church, it should 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.” (1)

This is not entirely new. The SBC has excluded women from pastor/elder/overseer positions since 2000. What’s new is the constraint on women preaching. Basically, churches couldn’t allow women pastors, and now they can’t allow women to preach. 

All those disillusioned with this amendment should join the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It’s true we debate on whether women can hold certain ordained offices, but the vast majority of us say “Yes!” to women preaching, even during the divine hour. And, in contrast to the SBC, we believe women can teach biblical truth to mixed groups. 

The Prophet Saves the Day

There’s one simple reason that even the most conservative Adventists don’t track with the SBC’s position. Her name is Ellen White. To have a woman of her substance and strength at the center of our denominational history and identity influences us toward a more moderate view of women’s role. 

Not only did this woman preach, but she preached about women preaching. Let’s hear her on that:

Women can be the instruments of righteousness, rendering holy service. It was Mary that first preached a risen Jesus. . . . If there were twenty women where now there is one, who would make this holy mission their cherished work, we should see many more converted to the truth. The refining, softening influence of Christian women is needed in the great work of preaching the truth. . . . Zealous and continued diligence in our sisters toiling for the spread of the truth would be wholly successful, and would astonish us with its results. (2)

To be clear, while many Adventists believe she had the gift of prophecy, we don’t place Ellen White above the Bible. She is a lesser light. But she has a very big footprint, such that both her example and teaching have shaped our approach to women’s role.

 Here’s a bit of self-disclosure. Biblically, I can understand some role differentiation in ecclesiastical leadership. The Bible clearly prioritizes men for leadership positions and in places, seems to limit women. I don’t hold a hard exclusionary position on this, but I see how people arrive there.  

But the SBC is taking this matter to new levels, essentially considering women preaching or teaching to any assembly which includes men to be in violation of the Bible. Their most oft-referenced verse is 1 Timothy 2:12, “And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.” 

Adventists don’t exclude women from preaching to and teaching men. We note that Pricilla taught the Word alongside her husband (Acts 18:24-26), Deborah and Huldah served as prophetesses (Judges 4, 2 Kings 22), and Mary of Magdala proclaimed a risen Christ (John 20:18). Many of us believe these examples to be first steps in the process of the widening the role of women to ultimately include them in proclaiming the last day message: 

And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days (Joel 2:28-29). 

My Personal Experience I once gave a vegetarian nutrition lecture in which I shared a verse from Isaiah, “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?” (Isaiah 55:2). The men quickly left the room. I later learned it was because I quoted a Bible verse. 

For heaven’s sake!

And I’m not using that as a slang. 

More than 30 years ago, I began a ministry of teaching in churches. This happened somewhat accidentally. My original passion was music and for many years I conducted a music ministry. When vocal issues made it necessary to limit my musical ambitions, I felt deflated and useless. Then opportunities to preach began to present themselves. I estimate I’ve preached at least 500 times over the last few decades. I’m no Billy Graham, but as the Spirit has led, I’ve had a ministry beyond my natural gifting. And I’ve never once believed God condemned me for it, nor did most of the men and women in the congregations. 

I can’t imagine a world in which women can’t talk about Jesus to everyone, even formally in a pulpit.  

How Did the SBC Get Here? 

I have wondered how the SBC arrived at this new position. From what I can see, the three great motivators are: preventing worldliness, verbal inspiration, and preoccupation with power. Let me explain.  

Preventing Worldliness 

Conservative Christians resist feminism as a worldly movement. They believe that if we give an inch, progressivism in all its unhinged weirdness, including the LGBTQ movement, will take a mile. Christians can sometimes take on a defensive posture in the larger society, feeling they must protest secular movements or be drawn downriver by their current.   

Candidly, I sympathize somewhat. My own church has at times disappointed me in its accommodation of worldly ideologies. The world seduces all but the most vigilant. But not all those who condone women preaching and teaching are progressive. We can learn to embrace the good of a movement while resisting the bad.  

Verbal Inspiration

Another possible contributor to the position of the SBC is their approach to inspiration. They believe the Bible was verbally inspired, meaning that the Spirit dictated the actual words of scripture, not just the thoughts and concepts. In their thinking, the Bible writers were God’s pens, not His penmen. This is called “verbal inspiration,” and it leads to less flexibility in the interpretation of expressions like, “Women . . . be in silence.” The reader interprets the words directly versus asking what concept led the writer to use those words. Certain Christian groups even follow “women keep silent” so literally that they forbid women singing in church! 

The alternative, “thought inspiration,” lends itself to better harmonization of seemingly contradictory passages. For example, “Woman . . . be in silence” needn’t be pitted against “every woman who prays or prophesies” (1 Corinthians 11:5). Both of those passages offer deeply harmonious concepts to be mined out and applied to the current context. In fact, verbal, hyper-literal interpretations, because they cause difficulty with harmonization, may lead readers to prefer one verse over another. Yet, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16). 

Preoccupation with Power 

Although the SBC divides itself between Calvinist and Armenian views, the main champion of the new amendment and president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Albert Mohler, holds Calvinist views. Calvinism tends toward a very authoritarian view of God. Verbal inspiration, sometimes called “dictation theory,” reflects this. Dictated inspiration leaves no room for the writer’s individual expression. A dictator God creates some people just to consign them to eternal flames. A dictator model of leadership places an unhealthy (and ultimately unholy) emphasis upon who’s in charge. Every relationship boils down to power, such that even the Trinity is thought a typical hierarchy. (3) 

We should note that the SBC came into existence to protest the anti-slavery of the Northern Baptists, who refused to appoint slaveholders as missionaries. In other words, the DNA of the SBC is racist. Amazingly, Albert Mohler and others came clean on this in a 71-page report released in 2018 (4). But it seems obvious that a broadscale abuse of power, which led to the SBC’s shameful alignment with slavery, could raise its ugly head in other ways. Is the extreme restriction on the role of women one of those ways?

In contrast, Jesus’ servant leader model balances authority with service. Note that it is servant leadership, so not bereft of authority, but the point of the leadership is service, the elevating of those led to their highest possible station. It seems that male-predominate church leadership, if following this model, would find ways to platform women who possess gifts of expounding the scriptures.  

I appreciate the nonconformity of the SBC. It’s difficult to resist worldly currents sweeping millions out to sea. But preventing women from preaching seems an overcorrection borne of self-defeating protectionism. I’m grateful for the opportunities God has given me to unpack truth-filled messages for the people of God. Thank you, Lord, for every pulpit given, every blog read, and every platform shared. I have no intention of quitting. 

We're all called to share the Gospel. How do you? Leave a comment below.

1. Truth and Unity Amendment. 

2. Review and Herald, Jan. 2, 1879.Also note: Ellen White told Sarepta M.I. Henry to, “address the crowd whenever you can” Review and Herald, May 9, 1899.

“The Lord designs that the school should also be a place where a training may be gained in women's work. . . They are to be qualified to take any post that may be offered--superintendents, Sabbath school teachers, Bible workers. They must be prepared to teach day schools for children.” Evangelism, p. 475.

3. https://www.atsjats.org/tinkham-neo-subordinationism-ats-2016.pdf

4. https://www.npr.org/2018/12/13/676333342/southern-baptist-seminary-confronts-history-of-slaveholding-and-deep-racism