Southern Baptists to Tackle Shrinking Membership, Sex Abuse, Women Pastors at Annual Meeting

The nation's largest Protestant denomination has seen a decline in membership for years and a drop in the overall number of congregations. At the same team, the ongoing debate about women pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention is reaching a boiling point.

Former Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren recently issued a tough challenge to the SBC by calling it out for what he calls "hypocrisy" when it comes to the role of women in the church. 

"Hypocrisy: the 2023 SBC will kick out churches for having a woman preach while honoring Charles Stanley, SBC president who was saved through a woman preaching!" Warren tweeted.  

DIG DEEPER: Rick Warren Slams Southern Baptist 'HYPOCRISY' on Women, Seeks to Restore Saddleback Church

Earlier this year the SBC's Executive Committee ousted five churches, including Saddleback, for having women pastors. That partly resulted from Warren ordaining three women as pastors in 2021.

The Executive Committee also cited Saddleback for naming Stacie Wood, wife of the church's new lead Pastor Andy Wood, as a teaching pastor. 

Saddleback is challenging that move with Warren expected to make a formal appeal at the SBC's annual meeting in New Orleans.

That controversy and the membership decline are pressing on Southern Baptists right now.

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Statistics from 2022 show the number of members in Southern Baptist churches at around 13 million, down by more than 450,000 from 2021 – the largest single-year drop in more than 100 years.

Dr. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, spoke to CBN News about the shrinking numbers.

"There was a time when the Southern Baptist Convention was riding the crest of a largely churched and Christianized culture and people gained social capital by joining our churches," said Mohler. "Well guess what – they cash out social capital by joining our churches now."

Mohler puts part of the blame on the pandemic.

"Part of this quite frankly is the disequilibrium that came with COVID," Mohler explained. "There's no doubt that you really found out who was with you on the other side of COVID and who's gonna show up to church."

Warren challenges that assessment.

"Seventeen years of decline year after year after year is not a glitch," Warren said in a video series on the challenges of the SBC. "And the loss of half a million members in a single year cannot be ignored."

Some argue the decline in membership is driven by recent revelations about the failure of leaders to handle sexual abuse cases. In 2022, an investigation the executive committee showed a pattern of resistance to abuse claims. 

Religion reporter Bob Smietana has covered the issue extensively.

"I think this whole thing on sexual abuse is going to continue. So last year they passed some significant reforms on how to deal with abuse, including a list of pastors that were abusive," Smietana said during an appearance on CBN's Faith Nation. "There's a real disagreement over who should be on that list." 

Meanwhile, transgender issues are also likely to be on the agenda at this year's annual meeting.