Greetings Nacogdoches!
Each year, representatives from many churches across the country gather for two or three days for something called The Southern Baptist Convention. At that gathering, representatives (called messengers) review reports, make decisions, and express opinions on wide-ranging subjects. News headlines with varying degrees of accuracy emerge from each gathering, and the most recent gathering, June 2024 in Indianapolis, was no exception.
Since that gathering, as is often the case, we’ve heard questions and received media inquiries. So, I thought it might be helpful to our church and community to write a brief article and address some of the questions. I’ll have more to say as our church gathers for worship through the next weeks and months, but my goal is to answer some of the often asked questions here. Of course, if any of our church members have detailed questions, I would be happy to try to answer those more directly.
Most questions I’ve heard seem to center on actions the messengers took concerning women serving as pastors. Let me focus our attention there…
First, this is not any issue of controversy at First Baptist Church of Nacogdoches. It isn’t now, and it never has been. Just to make certain we had full clarity on this issue, I preached an extensive message and provided an in-depth biblical analysis of the question about a year ago (June 25, 2023). I’ll provide links below to both the video of that message and to a full manuscript of my remarks.
In my view, and in accordance with the historical Christian understanding, the Bible always speaks of pastors as men. It does so consistently in both its teachings and in its examples. I won’t repeat here the full biblical analysis I referenced before (please click those links for further information), but that is my firm conviction and understanding of what the Bible clearly teaches.
How does that play itself out at First Baptist Church of Nacogdoches?
At FBC Nacogdoches, we celebrate, value, and depend heavily on women, their leadership, wisdom, and industry. Our church has many leaders serving in many ways. Both men and women are represented in all areas of our church and church leadership, with the exception of pastor. We have two female ministers on our church staff (and they may very well be the most effective ministers we have). We have basically three leadership teams that help manage the business of our church (finances, personnel, buildings and property). And while I’ve not counted, and we don’t have any kind of quota system, I’m sure at least half of the people on those committees are women. We have a half dozen or more ministry teams that provide guidance and make decisions about many major areas of ministry. Except for the men’s ministry team, those teams are filled with capable and qualified women.
Having said that, let me be clear… Our pastor (me) and our three associate pastors (who assist me with my pastoral duties) are men. This isn’t a new feature of our church. This isn’t something we are debating. This isn’t something we believe we can reconsider. We believe it is biblically prescribed. (Again, please visit the links below for a full biblical case.)
Further, though… We aren’t mad about this. We aren’t mad at another church. We aren’t looking to argue with anyone about this matter. That is not our focus. We are here to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are here to love our community with the love of Christ. We are here to honor Christ in the things we say and do.
And the Lord has blessed. We are a strong, healthy, growing church that the Lord is using to make an impact for him in families, with college students, and with a growing number of people in the county of Nacogdoches and surrounding areas. We have a strong and growing ministry across racial groups and with those of all ethnicities.
What about the actions of the Southern Baptist Convention?
It is important to understand that Baptist churches are all independent. We aren’t technically a part of a denomination. The First Baptist Church of Nacogdoches (and all Baptist churches) is an independent church. We own our property. We choose our pastor and staff. We set our budget. We create our calendar. We design our ministries.
At FBC Nac, we happily partner with other Baptist churches through the Southern Baptist Convention primarily for the purpose of sending missionaries around the world and supporting graduate schools (seminaries) for the training of ministers.
A Baptist church can choose to believe whatever it chooses to believe. A Baptist church can embrace whatever doctrines and convictions it wants to embrace.
However, Baptist churches that come together for missions and theological education require a basic set of agreed-upon beliefs to facilitate cooperation. No church wants to send its resources to support missionaries or graduate schools that teach something absolutely contrary to what it believes and teaches.
So, when the Southern Baptist Convention comes together each year, their votes do not determine what any church will believe or do. Their votes simply determine the basis of cooperation that churches can expect when they voluntarily send money to be shared for the purposes of missions and education. Each Baptist church can then decide on its own if it desires to cooperate or not cooperate with the other churches for joint mission efforts and theological education.
One of the issues that sort of came before the convention this year is the question of whether the Bible’s mandate that pastors be qualified men should be a point of cooperation. I say “sort of” because this has really been a settled issue with the Southern Baptist Convention from the beginning of the convention (150+ years ago). It is clearly stated in the convention’s Statement of Faith. It has been consistently supported and practiced by an overwhelming percentage of churches cooperating with the convention since its inception. And while it is true that over the past few years, the convention has excluded some churches from its cooperative fellowship because those churches no longer embrace this biblical teaching, it would be more accurate to say that those churches “left” the Southern Baptists, not that Southern Baptists removed them. It is not the Southern Baptists who have changed their understanding over the last decades. It is those churches that are no longer affiliated with the convention.
Some media headlines have suggested that Southern Baptists have banned women ministers or that they are removing churches that have women serving as ministers or in leadership roles. That is categorically untrue. Anyone who says that is not knowledgeable about Southern Baptists or is pushing some other agenda. Almost every Southern Baptist Church large enough to have multiple ministry staff has women on staff serving in important ministry leadership positions (though not as pastor).* There are some questions about how this should be stated in the convention’s legal documents. (For instance, should this be included only in our statement of faith, or should it also be included in our constitution?) Those aren’t unimportant issues, but they are about process and procedure, not beliefs or convictions. It was evident at this year’s convention that Southern Baptists continue to stand unified on this biblical matter and stand where they have always stood.
So, how does this impact our ministry at FBC Nac? Nothing changes! We will continue to voluntarily send hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to support missions and the sharing of the gospel around the world. We will continue to love on the people of Nacogdoches. We will continue to lean on the wisdom and industry of the men AND women the Lord has given us. We will continue to minister to families, minister across racial and ethnic lines, minister to university students, minister to the needy, minister to children and students, and on and on.
We are glad the Lord has planted us here in Nacogdoches. We love our community. We are here for you.
Pastor Noel
*For the biblical distinction between pastor and minister, please watch the linked video.
Men, Women, and the Gospel — A sermon preached by pastor Noel on June 25, 2023
Messages | First Baptist Nacogdoches
fbcnac.org/messages/detail/men-women-the-gospel/
Outline (manuscript)
Men, Women, and the Gospel – 1 Timothy 2:11–14 (2023.06.25 & 2023.07.30)
