This is a follow-up to my last post titled, BGCT Discontinues Support of Women In Ministry?
Since that post, John Hall of the BGCT’s Communications (PR) team posted this press release blog which revealed that the position of “Women In Ministry consultant” held by Julie O’Teter Sadler has been eliminated.
A second press release by John Hall announced the creation of the Center for Effective Leadership, a new center which (according to Hall) currently receives little Cooperative Program funding and in the future will become “self-supporting” (meaning no Cooperative Program funds). Thus, any future Women-in-Ministry related endeavors will not be funded by Cooperative Program dollars.
The press release also notes that the male ministry associates from the Congregational Leadership Team have been given replacement positions. From the press release:
In creating the center, Bivocational Specialist Cecil Deadman and Pastorless Church Consultant Karl Fickling were moved to the BGCT Christian Education/Discipleship Center. Bill Claiborne, who primarily worked with Texas.E-quip.net, became the congregational strategist for area 8, which includes Dallas. The position held by Julie Sadler will be eliminated Oct. 31 as part of this strategic change in how the convention will address leadership issues in the future.
And here is an astute comment from Robert Coleman who is an active Texas Baptist layman and Advisory Council member of the BGCT’s Christian Life Commission:
Coleman is spot-on. The frontpage of the BGCT’s website prominently features links to various ministries such as “African American Ministry,” “Collegiate Ministry,” “Hispanic Ministries,” “Intercultural Ministries” and “Western Heritage Ministry.” A link to the “Women-in-Ministry” page is curiously absent. That link is indeed BURIED.
Back in 2008, the “Women-in-Ministry” page was featured along with various other ministries under the “Missions and Ministries” tab located on the BGCT’s frontpage. See Internet Time Machine. Easy Access then; Buried now.
Coleman rightly points out that the statement on the “Women-in-Ministry” page does not mention women serving as pastors. Here’s the description from the BGCT website:
Recognizing that God has always called women into vocational ministry and realizing that Baptists have been blessed over the years by the ministry of women who accepted the call of God to become missionaries, chaplains, teachers, professors and to serve in local church staff positions, the Baptist General Convention of Texas offers support and encouragement for all women who are in vocational ministries, to those who sense a call to vocational ministry, and to those involved in the support and training of present and future women in ministry.
One of the purposes of the past Women-in-Ministry conferences sponsored by the BGCT was to give women, particularly young women, the opportunity to preach and be heard. In light of that, it is um, ODD that the Women-in-Ministry page makes no mention of women who are called to serve as pastors and preach Jesus.
It’s worth noting that there has been no public response to the thoughtful comment left by Robert Coleman, a respected Texas Baptist.
These concerns and observations expressed publicly by Robert Coleman, myself and others CAN NOT be spun as “unfounded concerns” as has already been suggested by one BGCT employee.
ADDENDUM: It’s worth pointing out that the BGCT page on Women-in-Ministry is indeed a helpful resource. There are many useful links for learning more about the state of women in Baptist life, ordination, and other related women-in-ministry questions. The selected bibliography on Baptist Women in the United States is a nice resource for those interested in doing a little research. While the Women-In-Ministry page is certainly a great resource….if you can find it.
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With money tight, I suspect it became hard for the BGCT to justify the now-eliminated position.
De-emphasizing the Senior Pastor role of women is probably necessary to avoid seeing contributions continue to go south, since maybe dozens–certainly not hundreds–of BGCT churches believe it’s biblical.
[...] itself from the issue of Women in Ministry. In particular, he has written a blog post entitled, “The BGCT’s Center for Effective [Male] Leadership.” If you’re not a reader of BDW, you’ll find his writings very well articulated and [...]
Sad. The BGCT was one of the best state conventions left in the South. Chuck is probably right about the financial motivations which is also sad–money over prophetic faithfulness. Why, at the end of the first decade of the 21st C., are we still debating women in ministry? Extremeley sad.
[...] in ministry. This month, the moderate-turning-conservative Baptist General Convention of Texas retreated from open organizational support of women as full partners in ministry. Meanwhile, a Barna survey indicates that 10% of churches in the United States now have women [...]