When I tell people I’m the pastor of Village, there are many ways the conversation can go. But all of them usually include me saying something like this:

“But we’re not that kind of Baptist.”

Most of the time, they get what I mean. These days, the title “Baptist” carries quite a lot of baggage. This is mainly due to the terrible beliefs, practices, and actions of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the largest Protestant (=non-Catholic) denomination in the United States.

Yesterday, the SBC approved a formal ban on women pastors. This new amendment requires another passing vote at their meeting next year’, but the intent and message are clear: God cannot call women to preach.

As always, the Southern Baptists say they have scriptural justification for this. Southern Baptists compile texts like 1 Timothy 2:12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34 to create the “complementarian” worldview, which argues that the main role of women is to complement men.

This is where I should explain what I mean when I say “we’re not that kind of Baptist.” That kind of Baptist loves to use Scripture to argue why some people are lesser than others, all in the name of “natural order.” That kind of Baptist covered up abuse by silencing the same women they won’t ordain. That kind of Baptist wielded the Bible to defend segregation.

In the 1990s, Village separated our ties to the Southern Baptist Convention, powerfully declaring that we’re not that kind of Baptist. Since then, we’ve continued forward in showing the world the kind of Baptist we are.

In our partnerships with other churches we call it Cooperative Baptist, American Baptist, or D.C. Baptist, but in all of these designations the point is the same: we’re a different kind of Baptist.

We’re a different kind of Baptist that ordains, celebrates, and empowers women from a young age in all facets of church life, because that’s what God did through women like Miriam, Junia, Mary, Phoebe, and Priscilla. We’re Baptists who listen to God when God says, “I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy” (Acts 2:17). We’re Baptists who welcome you before we ask you what you believe. We’re Baptists who believe in the separation of church and state (a Baptist principle!), abhor Christian Nationalism and all its attacks, and denounce the idolatry of modern evangelicalism.

Admittedly, sometimes I wonder if it wouldn’t be easier to drop the “Baptist” altogether. But then I remember: that’s exactly what they want, and we’ve never been that kind of Baptist.

As long as there’s a Village, there will be a different kind of Baptist.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Caleb