by William Thornton » Thu Apr 21, 2011 8:28 am
Tom, I don't think that SBC friendly state conventions have rooted out all SBC churches who have women pastors, so I'd bet there are a few churches with women pastors who have some affliliation with the SBC and state conventions. I don't know of any.
My point is that any woman who wants to be a pastor will probably be savvy enough about her prospects in the SBC to conclude that she has zero chance at a pulpit. So, she goes to the CBF and one of the CBF's partner schools where she are welcomed and affirmed in her career goals. But, guess what? She have only a slightly higher chance of obtaining a pastorate in a CBF church. The reason is that there are only a few hundred CBF churches at the most, and many of those are larger and beyond entry level pastor positions. There is also an abundance of mod/lib male, experienced, educated and connected pastors with whom she has to compete for the few pastorates available making her chances rather slim.
If the CBF had thousands of churches, most of which were smaller and a good proportion rural, like the UMC, and if the CBF assigned clergy, then women would have readily available opportunities to serve as pastor. So, why would a woman who wants to be pastor of a church not just look ahead and say, "UMC for me"?
BaptistLife has very few women. I would be interested in how any woman who wants to pastor feels about her prospects in the CBF. Seems like there was one who participated not too long ago. If I'm all wrong in my reading of this, I will be happy to admit it.
My stray thoughts on SBC stuff may be found at my blog,