Dr. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and one of the most influential voices within the Southern Baptist Convention, has announced plans to introduce a constitutional amendment at the SBC Annual Meeting in Orlando this June that would formally prohibit churches from affirming women serving in pastoral functions, including preaching to assembled congregations.
According to reporting by ChurchLeaders, Mohler revealed the proposal in a public video announcement ahead of the June 9-10 gathering, where thousands of Southern Baptists are expected to convene for debate, worship, and denominational business.
The proposed amendment would expand Article 3, Paragraph 1 of the SBC Constitution by adding a sixth item clarifying that a cooperating Southern Baptist church "does not act to affirm, appoint or endorse a woman serving in the office or function of a pastor, elder, overseer, such as preaching to the assembled congregation."
Mohler framed the initiative as an effort to preserve doctrinal unity within the nation's largest Protestant denomination.
"It is for the cause of our unity in the truth that I intend to bring a motion to the Southern Baptist Convention," Mohler stated in his announcement.
The proposal follows several years of contentious debate within the SBC over the role of women in ministry. Previous constitutional amendment efforts led by Pastor Mike Law in 2023 and Pastor Juan Sanchez in subsequent meetings failed to secure the required two-thirds majority vote from messengers.
The SBC's Baptist Faith and Message 2000 currently teaches that while both men and women are gifted for church service, "the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture." Mohler's proposal seeks to provide more explicit constitutional language defining how that standard applies in practice, especially regarding women preaching during gathered worship services.
Debate over women serving in pastoral or preaching roles has intensified in recent years following disputes involving churches affiliated with the convention that employed female teaching pastors or allowed women to preach in Sunday services.
If brought to the floor, Mohler's amendment is expected to become one of the defining issues of the 2026 SBC Annual Meeting in Orlando.
