Women Pastors? Women Elders?

June 15, 2026

Last week social media buzzed about the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) vote on women serving as pastors.

Specifically, the SBC voted to “not affirm, appoint, or endorse a woman serving in the office or function of a pastor/elder/overseer, such as preaching to the assembled congregation.” The amendment passed with nearly 75% support. Under the denomination’s rules, any constitutional change requires a two-thirds majority in two consecutive years, so a similar vote will be needed next year.

The SBC is the largest Protestant denomination in the USA, and since the “conservative resurgence” of the 1980s and 1990s, the SBC has worked to make sure everyone knows they are complementarian. Yet with increasing egalitarian influence in the evangelical world, there has been a push to amend the SBC’s constitution to be explicitly complementarian.

The statement included a last-minute modification by the highly regarded seminary president Albert Mohler, making the amendment focus specifically on “preaching to the assembled congregation.” This narrowed the scope and made it clear that women can lead in other ways. The statement was controversial on social media, in part, because Southern Baptist leaders like Rick Warren (author of The Purpose Driven Life) and former-SBC woman’s speaker Beth Moore have spoken out previously in opposition. Heightening the drama are additional criticisms facing the SBC, for example, for hiding sexual abuse and being too political.

“The SBC voted to ‘not affirm, appoint, or endorse a woman serving in the office or function of a pastor/elder/overseer, such as preaching to the assembled congregation.'”

RENEW.org Network holds to a theological framework that is similar to Southern Baptists on many items like this, while having important nuances that differentiate us on other key points. We are a renewal movement, championing the best of the Restoration Movement, which has always emphasized the teachings of the New Testament, especially those corroborated by the earliest Christian leaders after the apostles in the second and third centuries (free will, baptism as an expression of faith for the remission of sins, weekly communion).[1]

RENEW.org Network’s faith statement has some alignment with SBC on this key point, though, again, our wording is different. Our statement on men and women in ministry includes the following:

“In the church, men and women serve as partners in the use of their gifts in ministry, while seeking to uphold New Testament norms that teach the lead teacher/preacher role in the gathered church and the elder/overseer role are for qualified men. The vision of the Bible is an equal partnership of men and women in creation, in marriage, in salvation, in the gifts of the Spirit, and in the ministries of the church, but exercised in ways that honor gender as described in the Bible.”

Our stand on this doctrine—as a network of churches—can be one of the most contested points by outsiders who review our faith statement. But we stand firm because it clearly reflects what we see taught in the New Testament.

In light of what happened last week and the high profile it received in social media, I think it is important to clarify a few key items for our network. Here are three key issues that I believe deserve thoughtful reflection:

1. Exegesis matters.

There are three key resources I encourage every leader to read right away. They will help you settle whether Scripture teaches that women can serve in the role of pastor/elder/overseer. Too many churches are unconsciously trying to explain away what the text says to fit into our culture (some are doing it consciously).

1. “Can Women Serve as Elders in the Church? 5 Questions for Egalitarians” – I wrote this article a few years ago and updated it six months ago. It walks through the New Testament passages on elders and shows their unity on this question. The article is long (6,000+ words), but many have found it helpful for its clarity and thoroughness, with no substantive rebuttals, popular or scholarly.
2. Gavin Ortlund, “Should Only Men Be Pastors? My Honest Reflections on a Controversial Topic” – One of the most popular YouTube theology podcasters reflected on this most debated question about one month ago, exploring Scripture, church history, and the theology of gender to explain why the pastor/elder/overseer role is reserved for men while affirming the full dignity and ministry of women.
3. Colin Smothers, “Is the Slippery Slope Actually Slippery? Egalitarianism and the Open-and-Affirming Position” – This is a widely referenced summary which demonstrates how the interpretive method used to advocate for women elders will typically lead, especially with Gen Z leaders, to an affirmation of LGBTQ lifestyles using the same approach.

2. Use words accurately.

In the New Testament, is a pastor different from an elder?

Aren’t “pastors” basically church ministry staff (the “worship pastor,” the “children’s pastor,” the “lead pastor,” etc.), whereas “elders” are the spiritual shepherds over the entire church? It can be very confusing.

Actually, Scripture uses “pastor” synonymously with elder/overseer. When “pastor” is detached from the elder/overseer office and applied broadly as a descriptor of a minister, male or female, it blurs the distinct biblical leadership structure God designed. The New Testament calls for a team of qualified male elders/pastors/overseers who collectively shepherd the church, while encouraging all believers—men and women—to minister according to their gifts (1 Peter 4:10-11).

The New Testament presents one unified leadership office described by three interchangeable terms: pastor (shepherd), elder, and overseer (bishop). Scripture shows direct equivalence of these terms (Acts 20:17-28; 1 Peter 5:1-2; Titus 1:5-7). This pattern of plural, qualified male leaders equips healthy, disciple making churches, and it has been the consensus view of biblical scholarship for almost 200 years.[2]

Many churches have elders and yet they name a separate group of ministers as pastors. Although popular and seemingly harmless, this can be problematic.

Many think, “When you are ministerial staff, everybody just calls you a pastor—so what is the problem with that?” After all, “pastor” is a more friendly, accepted, and respected term than “minister” in North American Evangelical Christianity. So, when a church adds staff it becomes natural to just call them pastors (the “pastor” becomes the “senior pastor” and then we add an “associate pastor” and “youth pastor,” etc.).

“Many churches have elders and yet they name a separate group of ministers as pastors.”

Many churches in the RENEW.org Network have adopted this practice, including many of my closest friends who lead churches. It is not a leadership alignment issue for us, so we almost never comment on it.

Yet calling ministerial staff “pastors” (who are distinct from elders) further obscures the scriptural equivalence of “pastor” and “elder.” As a practice without basis in the New Testament, it makes things confusing for people and actually sets churches up on a trajectory toward egalitarianism. Here is what I mean: when “pastor” has been used to mean all types of ministerial staff, and when women, who are not “elders” in the New Testament, are called “pastors,” then over time it sets everyone up for the next step. People will naturally say, “We’ve had women pastors for years now. Who’s to say women can’t be the lead pastor or an elder? In the Bible, we don’t see these differences.”

The church of the late second century helps explain the confusion. Toward the later 100s, churches began calling the elder who directed the affairs of the church (see 1 Timothy 5:17) the “bishop,” as though he was the bishop in the area—although he was still part of the group of elders. This naturally led to the emergence of the office of the bishop, distinct from elders. By the time of the canons of Nicaea in 325 A.D./C.E., it was an entirely separate office, not only different from elders, but in leadership over elders. Bishops were to give direction to groups of churches, and soon they had not just “bishops” in authority over churches, but “archbishops” over bishops.

“The church of the late second century helps explain the confusion.”

Words create worlds and we are wise to use words to help our people think the way Scripture teaches us to think on this topic—especially if we take a long-term view. I can’t help looking down the road, and that’s why I advocate using “minister” for ministerial staff (“children’s minister,” “worship minister,” etc.) and “pastor” for elders (and “lead pastor” for the main teacher/preacher only if he is also considered an elder.)

3. Disciple your men in Christ-like headship.

Does your church effectively teach men to be Christ-like heads in their relationships with their wives and children?

Church leaders defending male-only eldership without addressing the broader cultural gender breakdowns struggle to appear credible. Men and fathers need to be trained in and respected for their Christlike headship roles in the home if the church is to be led well by male elders.

Uphold and disciple men in the way of Jesus. Here is the profile of a church that is not teaching wisely and already caving to culture, regardless of if they have a biblical view of male elders in the church:

• They are not telling and discipling their sons in what it uniquely means to be a man. They do not even know what it means to say: “be a man!”
• They are not encouraging men to pursue courtship and marriage and children.
• They are not practically discipling their men in how to love and lead their wives and children.
• They are not telling and discipling their daughters in what it uniquely means to be a woman.
• They are not teaching their teens a biblical response to gender fluidity, bisexuality, and transgenderism.
• Amid the aimlessness of young men, they are not teaching men—young and old—how to resist pornography and uphold chastity until marriage.

Teaching and discipling men (and women) on each of the above issues (and more) are important foundational elements if a church wants to uphold male headship—they strengthen the church long-term and help make sense of why men are to be the elders/overseers/pastors of the church.

“Church leaders defending male-only eldership without addressing the broader cultural gender breakdowns struggle to appear credible.”

Scripture calls husbands to servant-oriented leadership (not domination), rooted in creation order and Christ’s example (Ephesians 5, Colossians 3, 1 Peter 3, etc.). Husbands reflect Jesus—sacrificial, protective, sanctifying—for their family’s flourishing.

The best argument for the complementarianism that we see in the Bible are Christ-like men leading their wives and families in a different, wholistic godly trajectory than the world. The man, as head of the family, is key.[3] The statistical data is clear, as Nancy Pearcy has demonstrated: devout complementarian men are the best husbands and fathers of all family models in North America.[4]

A church needs to holistically and faithfully teach and disciple people in these practical day-to-day truths that make a difference in families. Again, the church needs to provide a consistent, deep-rooted foundation that makes sense of the larger elder/pastor role in the church family.

Strong godly men leading their wives and families in a healthy way is the seedbed of godly male elders.

Pastors/elders are the fathers of the church—doing for the members a similar great work to what they have already been doing in the home (1 Timothy 3:4-5).

“Pastors/elders are the fathers of the church—doing for the members a similar great work to what they have already been doing in the home.”

These questions certainly aren’t gospel essentials. But they are more important long-term than most people think, and as such they’re worth church leaders’ time to get right. I encourage you to dig deep to discover what the New Testament teaches and stand strong on it.

[1] Everett Ferguson, Early Christians Speak: Faith and Life in the First Three Centuries, Vol. 1 & 2 (ACU Press, 1997, 2002).

[2] Everett Ferguson, The Church of Christ: A Biblical Ecclesiology for Today (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997). Benjamin L. Merkle The Elder and Overseer: One Office in the Early Church (Peter Lang, 2003); And Alexander Strauch’s Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership (Lewis & Roth, revised/updated editions).

[3] See https://betterman.com/ and the amazing ministry of Chris Harper as one example.

[4] Nancy R. Pearcey, The Toxic War on Masculinity: How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes (Baker, 2023).

Interested in learning more on this topic? Check out Renée Webb Sproles, Male Female: A Biblical Look at Gender and Renée Webb Sproles and Bobby Harrington, Five Conversations on Men and Women for Church Leaders.