As a trustee of the North American Mission Board (NAMB), I must disagree with Bob Terry’s editorial of March 6, 2003, regarding “Questions about women chaplains and NAMB.”
I was disappointed to read such negative comments leveled at a Southern
Baptist Convention missions agency. The board of trustees at NAMB completely respects the autonomy of the local church in its choices of individuals to credential through ordination. As a board, we have made policy decisions that we believe reflect the position of most Southern Baptists.
Our policies regarding the endorsement of female chaplains are in keeping with the positions of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 regarding the role of pastor, and with a resolution adopted by the convention in 1984 which voices support for women in various roles of ministry with the exception of roles entailing ordination.
Since ordination is a local church action, and endorsement of chaplains and the policies entailing such endorsement are the actions of a national agency such as NAMB, I believe our actions have expressed a fair understanding of Baptist polity and exercised appropriate doctrinal accountability to the SBC.
Your editorial comments also ignore the fact that NAMB has vowed to stand with any woman who is rejected as a chaplain because she is not ordained and will vigorously pursue her rights to serve where she is qualified.
As stated in the policy decision regarding the endorsement of female chaplains, “[NAMB} will stand with them as endorsed chaplains in seeking to obtain their legal rights to not be discriminated against solely because of their religious conviction concerning ordination” (2002 SBC Annual Meeting Book of Reports, June 2002, p. 108).
Barry Holcomb
Andalusia, Ala.
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