by Sandy » Thu Sep 29, 2011 2:58 pm
Aside from all of the questions about someone believing their is hope in a situation where it doesn't exist, and the whole matter of one Baptist body paying money to another to encourage some kind of decision be made, is the fact that calling a pastor is a spiritual matter requiring a strong sense of God's direction and movement. CBFMO is declaring, by doing this, that they do not understand the process of how a pastor is called to a Baptist church and are trying to circumvent something that is a reflection of the movement of the Holy Spirit.
Baptist churches do that frequently, and the average tenure of pastors in SBC churches is a reflection of that. Of course, if it is ackowledged that this is a process in which God is involved intimately from beginning to end, then it also must be acknowledged that perhaps the interpretation of his written word that says women are not eligible for consideration as the pastor of a church is a correct one. There are few female pastors among the CBF affiliated churches, which may also reflect the fact that when churches genuinely seek God's direction in the matter, they wind up with a male pastor.
We belonged to a large, well known moderate, CBF affiliated congregation in Houston for a number of years, including through a pastor search. After the choice was made, I was told by a member of the search committee that there were a couple of women whose names came up, but that they were not given serious consideration. A long time member of the church told me that, though the church broke ground in Texas by ordaining a woman to the gospel ministry, and had a number of female deacons, he did not think they would ever call a female pastor under any circumstances.
I don't think CBF has the kind of money it would take to make a difference in this area.