One of the largest Christian churches in the US leaves Southern Baptists after a vote to ban women from the pulpit

Harris Marley

Global Courant

Southern Baptists lost one of their largest congregations last week amid tensions in America’s largest Protestant denomination over women in the pulpit.

The Matthews, North Carolina-based Elevation Church sent a letter to the Southern Baptist Convention on July 26 notifying them of their intention to disengage “effective immediately.”

The letter from the megachurch gave no reason for the disengagement, although Elevation Pastor Steven Furtick’s wife, Holly Furtick, preaches and posts her sermons online.

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A 2016 photo of the Elevation Church campus in Matthews, North Carolina, near Charlotte. (Google Maps)

The megachurch had about 26,000 congregation members each week by 2022, making it the seventh most attended Protestant church in the US, according to Outreach magazine. According to the most recent data from the SBC, Elevation Church had an average attendance of 10,185 people in 2021.

SOUTHERN BAPTISTE LEAVES ITS 2ND LARGEST CONGREGATION, FOUNDED BY RICK WARREN, FOR HAVING A FEMALE PASTOR

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