Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., recently ousted five churches across the U.S. because they allow women to serve as pastors — including Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of the convention’s largest member churches.
The SBC’s policies state, “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”
The other four that were expelled are New Faith Mission Ministry in Griffin, Ga.; St. Timothy’s Christian Baptist Church in Baltimore; Calvary Baptist Church in Jackson, Miss.; and Fern Creek Baptist Church near Louisville, Ky., according to the Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention. A sixth church, Freedom Church in Vero Beach, Fla., was removed for issues related to sexual abuse allegations.
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