Religion: Ministers in Protestant/Evangelical denominations
The Association of Religion Data Archives surveys congregations by their denomination and ‘gender of religious leader’. The ARDA’s most recent National Congregations study (2018-2019) identifies that, in ‘White conservative, evangelical or fundamentalist’ congregations, the senior clergy is 97.6% male and 2.4% female.
2.4% female senior clergy
The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest US Protestant denomination, with nearly 16 million members in upwards of 46,000 churches in the United States
The SBC does not ordain women. In 2000, the Baptist Faith and Message was officially amended to define the pastorate as male-only, despite some high-profile female “teachers” in the Baptist Church.
How many Evangelical denominations, adherents, and pastors exist in the US?
According to the Pew Research Center, Evangelical Protestants account for 25.4% of the US population, and 55% of all Protestants in America, with US Black churches (which range from evangelical to liberal, and are tracked by Pew) accounting for 6.5% (see subsequent section on The Black Church).
After the SBC, the largest denominations are Church of Christ, Assemblies of God, Missouri Synod Lutheran (LCMS), Seventh-Day Adventists, Presbyterian Church in America, and Church of God.
Churches of Christ – also called a cappella churches -- count 13,000 congregations in the US, with nearly 2 million members. 70% of these members are concentrated in 13 US states. Each autonomous congregation appoints Elders (spiritual leaders) and Deacons (operational leaders) according to qualifications laid out in Scripture (1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1). These congregations do not ordain women, but occasionally accept female deacons.
Assemblies of God, headquartered in Springfield, MO, counts 13,000 congregations and nearly 3.3 million adherents. The 2017 Ministers Credentials Marital and Ministry Status by Gender report prepared by the Assemblies of God identifies that 75% of AG USA Ministers are male, and 25% female, with a third of the female ministers being ordained (compared to licensed or certified). The leadership, however, is overwhelmingly male, with District Executive Presbyters being 15 women and 203 men (7.3%), District Officials 3 women and 206 men (1.4%), Lead Pastors 567 women and 10,421 men (5.4%), Sectional Presbyters 32 women and 712 men (4.5%), and teachers at AG colleges being 26 women and 155 men (16.7%). Notably, the AG reports 4,139 couples “in which both were credentialed AG ministers” in 2017.
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, headquartered in Kirkwood, MO, has 2 million members in 35 districts (most in the Midwest United States), does not ordain women, nor allow women to teach theology in university or seminary settings. Women do not serve in pastoral offices, though may serve as congregational president or chair. An LCMS group called Ordain Women Now presents biblical and theological arguments for and against female ordination, preaching and teaching: https://ordainwomennow.com/
The Seventh-Day Adventist Church has an official policy against ordaining women, but individual congregations occasionally do. The issue of female ordination is a schism issue within the global Adventist Church, with the US, the Netherlands, Germany and China on the side for ordination, and other countries typically voting against. One proposal at the General Conference Session would have allowed local choice in the matter but was also turned down. Many churches “commission” women instead, and the co-founder of the Adventists was Ellen G. White – influential, but not ordained.
The Presbyterian Church in America (evangelical) does not ordain women, and even ended its official relationship with the Christian Reformed Church (which began ordaining women in 1995) due to this issue, in 1997. However, most of the United Reformed Churches in North America do not ordain women.
The Church of God, headquartered in Cleveland, TN, and with nearly 2 million members in North America, operates with a hierarchical church structure and an episcopal polity, with the highest teaching, principles, policy and practices body being the International General Assembly. Church of God has three ranks of ministers: exhorter, ordained minister and ordained bishop. Women may become ordained ministers and exhorters, but are excluded from all levels of ordained bishopry, required for leadership posts.
The Orthodox Presbyterian Church does not ordain women. Likewise, the Free Reformed Churches of North America.
What will it take for women to get into the Power Percentage in Evangelical Protestantism in the United States?