Rick Warren: Christians who have a problem with women preaching 'have a problem with Jesus'

Saddleback Church pastor and founder Rick Warren is in a battle with the Southern Baptist Convention after advocating for women, something the Baptists ban from the pulpit.

Warren has retired from his position as the head of the church, telling people that he was eager to retire and read as many books as he could get his hands on about "the Great Commission and on church history."

Charisma News revealed that during a podcast, Wilson told former Southern Baptist Church Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Russell Moore that, based on his three years of research, he began to question the church's doctrine against women.

"The issue became especially volatile last month when the Southern Baptist Convention expelled Saddleback from the SBC over its decision to hire a female pastor," said the report. "When Warren retired, Andy Wood and his wife, Stacie, took over the duties as lead pastors. Because Stacie Wood's role was that of a 'teaching pastor,' the church was found to not be in friendly cooperation with the necessary credentials under the Southern Baptist Convention, as reported by Baptist Press."

In an episode of Melissa Harris-Perry's NPR show "The Takeaway," she revealed that after an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse in the church, it was discovered that of the small set of churches they looked at, there were at least 700 reports. Meanwhile, the church kept a database to try and keep their abusers away from further potential victims. The 2022 Washington Post report about the revelations noted that church leaders had been keeping a list privately for years prior to the database.

Harris-Perry closed her show Friday, noting that six Southern Baptist Churches were pushed out of the convention due to having women in the church leadership. The churches that hid sexual abuse still are part of the convention, however.

Warren said his study of the Great Commission "caused me to change my view about women. I came upon three different Scriptures. We like to call ourselves Great Commission Baptists, and we claim that we believe the Great Commission is for everybody, both men and women are to fulfill the Great Commission. But not really."

He cited Matthew 28:19-20, when Jesus told his disciples, "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

Warren explained that there were four verbs in the Great Commission: "go," "make disciples," "baptize" and "teach."

"Women are to go," said Warren. "Women are to make disciples. Women are to baptize and women are to teach, not just men. This is one of the reasons why Saddleback Church has baptized more people than any church in American history—57,000 baptisms in 43 years. Anybody can baptize anybody that they led to Christ."

"Jesus said, 'all authority is given to Me, therefore baptize.' If you have a problem with the Great Commission, you have a problem with Jesus. I had to repent when I took a hard look at the Great Commission. I had to say it's not just for ordained me, it's for everybody," Warren continued.

He also cited Acts 2, which "was the day of Pentecost," he said.

"A few things happened that day. We know women were in the Upper Room. We know women were filled with the Holy Spirit. We know that women were preaching in languages other people couldn't understand," Warren explained.

Another verse is John 20:17, when Jesus tells Mary Magdalene to inform His disciples about His resurrection. In the text, Jesus "chose her to be the first preacher of the gospel."

Of the 300 commentaries he read he said that at the end, everyone is welcome to preach.

"The people who don't like that ignore those verses," Warren said. "John MacArthur doesn't' even cover that verse, he just skips over it. Jesus told a woman to deliver the message to men."

"I have to say with humility, it doesn't bother me if you disagree with me," Warren says. "For 2,000 years, the church has debated the role of women in culture. If I'm wrong, I'll say I'm wrong. But it's just everyone's interpretation of Scripture."

Meanwhile, when it comes to promises to fix the abuse in the Baptist convention, "reforms have been slow," Harris-Perry explained. "And the Convention has continued to field debates within its churches about who is really accountable."

Listen to the full podcast here.

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