Southern Baptist Convention Churches

Like Baptist groups in general, the Southern Baptist Convention is an association of congregations which function autonomously at the local level. Thus, it is difficult to speak in generalities about worship and related ministries in the member churches. This entry discusses a representative congregation. Crescent Hill Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, is a Southern Baptist church seeking to integrate its worship life with the other ministries of the local congregation. Evangelism, education, pastoral care, the role of women, and other aspects of church life are all affected by worship and receive attention within the sphere of worship. Women, Ordination, and Worship. Since in Baptist polity each congregation is autonomous and thereby free to interpret Scripture for its faith and practice, some congregations ordain women to the diaconate and to preaching and pastoral ministries, while others staunchly oppose women's ordination. Currently approximately eight hundred women are …