This past Sunday, the Reverend Julie Merritt Lee was called as senior pastor of Providence Baptist Church in Hendersonville, NC. We at CBF rejoice whenever a church calls a female minister to fill the role of lead pastor. Admittedly, it happens all too seldom in CBF life. In fact, CBF is often “taken to the woodshed” because we “don’t do more to help those women who feel called to pastor a church.”

Like any authentic Baptist organization, CBF lacks the power of a bishopric and the authority to make pastoral appointments. While we can (and do) refer the names of qualified women candidates to pastor search committees, we cannot force autonomous churches to call them.  As CBF’s contact point for our reference and referral service, the thing I hear most often from pastor search committees when I talk about the possibility of their considering a woman candidate is, “I don’t think 0ur church is ready for that.” This comment is often accompanied by the committee member’s saying something like, “It would be fine with me”  or, “It would be fine with our committee.” It is often difficult to help search committees understand that, in their  position, they ARE the church — elected and chosen and empowered as the agent of their congregation.

Change comes very slowly in this area. But each time a church calls a Julie Merritt as her pastor, it is one more baby step down the road toward full recognition of the giftedness and rightful place of God-called women in ministry. So…we at CBF celebrate with Julie and with Providence Baptist Church as we as a movement seek to “honor race, gender and generations” in all aspects of our missions and ministries.