Shifting standards for church affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention are causing Black churches to wonder about their future with the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.
The president of the National African American Fellowship — an association representing about 4,000 predominantly Black churches within the Nashville, Tennessee-based SBC — recently expressed concern about the convention’s expectations for churches in which women hold the title of pastor. The NAAF letter said the new expectations could lead to fewer Black churches, where the practice is more common.
