ATLANTA — A day after the Southern Baptist Convention expelled a Virginia church for affirming women in pastoral roles, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination voted down a resolution to add an amendment banning the pastoral roles in its constitution.

The amendment failed to meet the the 2/3 threshold necessary for adoption, a vote that surprised many at the annual meeting in Indianapolis.

“We know that others voted against the amendment for other reasons, but we hope the message of your support for female pastors will be amplified, said Meredith Stone, executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry.

“But even though the amendment did not pass, we are also grieved that this vote has ever even taken place. Further, the 61% of messengers who voted for it (66% was required to pass) demonstrate that women in ministry are still devalued.”

Although the amendment failed, the denomination still opposes women in pastoral roles and a church that goes against that part of the statement of faith can still be found to be “not in friendly cooperation” and expelled.

The amendment would have reaffirmed a ban that prohibits women from serving as pastors in its roughly 40,000 cooperating churches.

The denomination’s Baptist Faith and Message states, that “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”

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