women in the sbc

Ethics Daily today runs an excellent blog post by Emily Hunter McGowan that I've been meaning to post on for a few days now. It's about the role of women in ministry, and, to put it bluntly, the fact that we don't have time for cop-outs.

As I go to a non-SBC church that has ordained at least four young women to the ministry in the time I've been there, this isn't really a huge issue in my immediate life. But, as the sister of a Truett graduate and the friend of many more women in ministry, I know it's a huge issue even in moderate Baptist life, where the fight about whether women can be pastors is over. Instead, the problem that so many young, talented, female ministers face is the fact that so many churches that profess to affirm their callings are reluctant to actually go through with that commitment and hire them. The Baptist Women in Ministry report for this year is encouraging, yes, but there are far too many capable women in ministry who can't get jobs in churches for no other apparent reason than the fact that they are women.

Hunter McGowan is right: this is a hill on which to die. If you're going to deny that God calls women to ministry, you need to be clear about why it is that you believe you know better than God whom he can and cannot call to a specific task. If you believe that God calls women to ministry, then you'd sure better be doing something concrete about it.