June 14, 2023

Disponible en Español aqui.

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship holds deeply the conviction that God calls women to all places of leadership and service in the lives of congregations and in our denominational community. We believe this conviction rises from the Scriptures and has been confirmed time and time again by the work of the Holy Spirit in calling and gifting women for preaching, pastoral leadership and other forms of ministry. The congregations served by women ministers benefit richly from the gifts, graces and unique understandings and experiences they bring to the preaching of the gospel, the leadership of congregations and the care of people across all seasons of life. 

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship also recognizes that in our congregations and denominational life we still have work to do to live out these convictions. Because women and men are equally called to leadership and are not yet equally flourishing in those callings, we are joining with Baptist Women in Ministry to offer resources that equip congregations and our Fellowship to take next steps to bring the reality of our lives closer to the convictions we profess with our lips. We must be relentless in our resolve toward complete synergy between the faith we profess and the faith we live. Jesus is working among us, challenging us, encouraging us, ultimately to transform us until this synergy beautifully exists. 

Since our founding more than thirty years ago, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has held the highest respect for the autonomy of congregations. The calling and ordination of ministers belong ultimately to local congregations under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. As a genuinely Baptist community, we honor and respect the discernments made by congregations and we seek to order our life together to strengthen congregations and encourage their leaders.  

As a Baptist denominational community our calling is not to police the actions of congregations; instead we strive to be a fellowship in which congregations and their leaders learn from each other, encourage one another, and become instruments of God’s grace to each other as a real priesthood of all believers. Indeed, we believe we are being invited by the Holy Spirit into a growing community of congregations and individuals in which we are being mutually equipped for bold faithfulness so that by sheer grace we are transformed and participate in the transformation of the world through Jesus Christ our Lord.